


Daddy DiNozzo

by Aitheria_Iah



Category: NCIS
Genre: 8.05: dead air, Anthony DiNozzo has a child, Betrayal, Daddy Anthony DiNozzo, Dead Air, Episode Tag, Gen, M.O.A.S., McGee bashing, Physical Disability, Season 8 Episode 5, Ziva Bashing, team failure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26901796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aitheria_Iah/pseuds/Aitheria_Iah
Summary: The day started out so well but it didn't end that way. It wasn't the first betrayal but it was one that hurt the most. Who knew that it wasn't terrorist he needed to be afraid of but his teammates.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 203





	Daddy DiNozzo

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the plot work for NCIS.
> 
> I drew inspiration from multiple works authors in particular were Leigh59 on fanfiction.com and gibbsandtonybabe here on ao3 as well as JackiLeigh here on ao3. Go check out their works as well they are awesome.

The morning gave no indication of the events that would follow him that day. Whistling as the pancakes popped and sizzled on the griddle, Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo was happy. He laid blueberries in the form of a smiley face for the single most precious person to him. He never knew that someone could mean so much to him, but he wouldn’t change anything.

“Papa!” speak of the devil, Anthony smiled as a little girl ran around the corner from the hallway with her nanny not far behind. Anthony wiped the grin from his face and tried to be as stern as possible, “Lily Alaine, what have I told you about running in the house!”

This caused the little four-year-old girl to pout, “Not to.”

Anthony knelt down and pushed a stray strand of dark honey blonde hair back off her face, “you know it’s because you could get hurt. Remember that one time that you scrapped your knees because you fell running around the house?”

Her sad green eyes lightened up knowing that her beloved papa wasn’t angry with her. “I know. I’ll try to remember more Papa.”

Anthony kissed her forehead. “I know LA. Now pancakes are ready and then Papa has to get to work and you and Mrs. Maria need to get ready for the day.”

That dark honey blond hair bounces as Lily Alaine DiNozzo jumps up and down in excitement. She loves her papa’s pancakes. She knew that her papa had a demanding job and tried to help people so that she’s as safe as possible in this world but when he was able to stay and enjoy a simple breakfast with her meant more than any toy or present she could have gotten. Though her question might bother papa, but she needed to know.

“Papa,” LA’s voice was filled with hesitation. That trepidation caused Tony’s gut to rumble. While his gut is not as renowned as his boss’s – Leroy Jethro Gibbs – but he knew when something was wrong. Especially with his usually confident and brilliant daughter.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

LA poked at her pancakes, “why don’t I have a mama? Everyone at the park have mamas and I have Mrs. Maria. Not saying I don’t love Mrs. Maria but no one else seems to have a nanny and daddy.”

Tony was right, he didn’t like where this was going. His daughter shouldn’t have to worry about those things. He set the spatula in his hand down and turned the stove off. Taking his time, Tony took a seat at the table across from his beautiful daughter. Even to this day he still had a hard time seeing any trace of her mother in LA’s features. She took entirely after his side, more his English mother than his Italian father but still.

“I’m sure that not everyone has a mama, piccolo. Didn’t Amelie’s father remarry?”

“mhm.”

“you see, Lily Tesoro, sometimes after a mommy and daddy are together a while or have a baby, they find that they can’t be together anymore, and mommy and daddy leave each other. Now if the relationship is good than the baby will see both parents and sometimes the baby only stays with one of the parents, either the mommy or daddy. In our case, your mommy thought that she couldn’t be a good mother and so I got full custody – meaning that you stay with me full time – and to make sure that she couldn’t hurt you. She doesn’t see you until you’re an adult. Does that make sense, amore mio.” Tony tried to explain everything as clearly as possible.

LA didn’t look up from her plate, “So my mommy isn’t a good mommy and to keep me safe we can’t see each other.”

Tony tried to see where LA was leading to. “Yeah baby. We just want you to be safe. Like how Rosie’s mom took Rosie away from her daddy because he was hurting them. Sweetheart, why are you so interested in your mother? Is there something I’m not giving you or doing? Did you hear something?”

LA jumped up and climbed into her daddy’s lap and grappled his neck tightly. “No! Daddy is amazing.”

Tony looked at Lily Alaine’s face, there was something else. She wasn’t telling him everything, “What’s wrong dear. Did someone say something that made you think about this?”

Lily Alaine was silent for a while before nodding her head, “Danny was laughing at me for not having a mommy at the playground. But I don’t need a mama if I have papa.”

Tony’s heart clenched. His baby girl was almost five and already she was discovering that people were mean and petty. “Tesoro never listen to Danny. He is just a child and doesn’t understand that life Is not as simple as mommy and daddy and baby together. I love you and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make sure that you are happy and safe. I know that Mrs. Maria loves you as though you were her own as well. Okay?”

LA nodded her head and stood up on Tony’s lap to kiss his cheek. “Okay, papa. I love you.”

Tony kissed LA’s back and set her down on the floor. “I love you too, baby girl. Now finish your pancakes, I got to get ready for work.”

Now that her papa had swept away her fears and concerns, LA happily dug into her pancakes and started getting blueberries and syrup all over her face. Tony walked down the hall and passed Maria Deltega, LA’s live in nanny, letting her know that LA was making a mess of herself. Maria only smiled, “Like every moving then.”

Tony shook his head in amusement and continue to prepare for the day ahead. Getting everything together, Tony grabbed his bag and keys before kissing LA good day. “I’ll see you later, dolcezza.”

“Be safe, papa.”

Taking one last look at the best gift he ever got, Tony smiled and left for his car.

Barely paying attention to the traffic Tony could stop thinking about how LA came into his life like a comet.

_FLASHBACK_

_The day was a slow one, Tony had been able to catch up on all his paperwork needed. The expenditure report, materials request, gas refund forms for the truck and cars. Not to mention the case reports that needed to be redone, since little miss ninja was still mixing up her languages and Tony knew that McGee added way too much detail for Gibbs. There was nothing pressing, though he was the only one in the office at the time since Ziva had taken the day off and McGee had been requested by cybercrime. Tony could only speculate that Gibbs was talking to Ducky about something, but he couldn’t be sure about his boss. When his phone rang, it was an absent mindedness that he answered, “DiNozzo.”_

_“Hello, Mr. DiNozzo. I am Rebecca Dolland and I am Monica Spretz’s OBG-YN and she’s stated that she would like for you to be here.”_

_Tony dropped his pen, “Excuse me. OBG-YN? As in a baby doctor? I haven’t spoken to Monica in eleven months.”_

_“I understand that this is confusing, but I can only ask you to come to Bethesda hospital and ask for Dr. Dolland.”_

_“umh, uh, okay. I’ll be right there.”_

_“I will see you when you get here, Mr. DiNozzo.” There was only a dial tone ringing in his ear._

_There was a churning in his gut, something was going to happen. He just wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. But something, so before he left the building, he called his attorney to meet him at the hospital as well. He knew that Monica Spetz and he had had an affair and now the hospital was calling from saying she wanted him there. Monica got pregnant and apparently thought that he was the father. He would definitely need his lawyer if this was true. No matter what Gibbs rule 13 was._

_Arriving at the hospital, DiNozzo was met by his lawyer, David Segs. This man had represented Tony since he was eighteen and his father had tried to con his bank into giving him Anthony’s entire savings. There was no one better in Tony’s opinion. He was a bulldozer in his sense of right and wrong and doing his very best for his clients._

_Walking to the nurses’ station, Tony repeated the doctor’s orders and was directed to the maternity ward with Mr. Segs following close behind. There he was directed to a room. Walking in he noticed the doctor standing beside Monica, who was laying on the bed with a man beside her and a plastic crib at the foot of the bed as far away from the others in the room._

_“Hello, Anthony.” Monica was the first one to talk. It seemed that this aggravated the man._

_“Monica,” Anthony nodded his head in greeting, “I thought I said not to contact me again when you told me you were married.”_

_Monica didn’t even look ashamed of herself for having an affair. Though the man looked angry._

_“I got pregnant and now I do not want the baby. I didn’t abort her, I don’t believe it in, however if you don’t take her, I’m giving her up to the state.” It was all said matter of fact and without much emotion._

_Anthony scowled at her, “You dump this on me and expect me to make a decision in five minutes.”_

_Monica simply shrugged her shoulders, though Anthony noted that the doctor in the room seemed uncomfortable with the tension in the room. “I’ve already listed you as the father and signed my parental rights away so…” she left her statement hanging._

_“How do you even know I’m the father? Surely you and your husband have had relations. Or you’ve had another affair.”_

_This got the man riled up, “Don’t talk about my wife that way! You’re the one that slept with a married woman. You have no respect to our marriage vows!”_

_Tony laughed cynically. “oh, yes. I am the one that doesn’t respect your vows. Your wife wasn’t wearing her ring, had no markers of having own, and didn’t turn me down when asked on a date. That was all YOUR wife’s doing. Don’t come at me.” Turning to the doctor, Anthony introduced his lawyer and asked for any legal papers to be handed to him and that he demanded a paternity test done immediately._

_The doctor seemed stunned to be remembered, “Of course, we have hers already on file from the cord blood that Mrs. Spetz donated, and we can compare them quickly.” She grabbed a swab and asked him to open his mouth for a sample._

_“That won’t be necessary. My DNA is also on record as I am a federal agent. My file is actually here at Bethesda, its Anthony DiNozzo Jr.”_

_That kept everyone in the room silent, “that will get this to go even quicker. I will go have the comparison done and let you know the results when they come in. Please excuse me.”_

_They four people in the room watched as the doctor hurried away to request the testing. Tony didn’t want to think about this. He was trying to remember when he might have gotten Monica pregnant. He was always careful to use a condom, what with his rapid dating life and he even remembered her saying that she was on the pill. But then again, he recognized the fact that life had a habit of surprising you with unexpected situations._

_“She is yours, Tony. I could tell the minute I saw her. Besides Bradley is sterile. We tried to get pregnant for five years before I met you.”_

_Tony scowled, “if you tried for so long, why are you giving her up now?”_

_“Because I love my husband more than I love her. I gave up on children and don’t even like them now. What with that whole pregnancy, I hope I never have to go through that again” Monica sounded like a bitch, scratch that she simply was a bitch._

_Mr. Segs was angered by everything that was going on in the room, however he wasn’t there as a friend but as legal representation. “How would you like to handle this Agent DiNozzo?”_

_Anthony turned to David, “If it turns out that the child is mine, I want all rights. Neither Monica or her husband can come in years later deciding that they made a mistake. I don’t want them to have any right to seeing her or use her for any reason. Make sure that my accounts are all in order and that my father hasn’t tried anything since I will need to start preparing a space for her. Also look into the cost of breaking my lease and look into a purchasing a house. I’ll also need to revise my will.”_

_“understood sure, I’ll look into everything sir.”_

_There was stony silence in the room as they all waited for the results. Finally, the doctor returned with the test results. “Mr. DiNozzo…”_

_“Agent. I have earned my right to the title by serving this country on a daily basis.”_

_“Sorry, Agent DiNozzo. You have a daughter.”_

_Tony turned to his attorney and nodded for him to start all processes necessary before turning back to the doctor who had picked up the pink bundle from the plastic incubator like basket and held her out to him. Anthony didn’t doubt himself for a minute, knowing that he would panic if he did._

_“Would you like to name her now?”_

_Anthony didn’t look away from his sleeping baby girl, “Lily Alaine DiNozzo.”_

_“It’s beautiful. How about we get her settled in the nursery while I take you through everything you need to know, and Mr. and Mrs. Spetz can get on with things.”_

_Anthony barely acknowledge her as he was led out of the room. This is a day that would forever be the day that changed his life.”_

Tony could barely believe that it had been almost four years since that day. He knew that eventually Monica would regret giving up the baby, but he didn’t want her to have any say in how he raised his daughter. Turning the station, Tony barely got the resounding bang over the radio. He knew that sound. It was a gun. Tony was a little ashamed of himself, when he hoped that it was a metro case and not an NCIS one. He noticed that him and Tim pulled into the parking garage at the same time. They fell in step and entered the elevators together and began talking about baseball/softball. Tony couldn’t stop but think about how he and LA tossed a softball back and forth gently to help her hand-eye coordination as she’s grown. Tony had actually played baseball along with football and basketball in the academy even though he went to college for only two of the sports. There was always a special place in his heart for baseball since his grandfather would always toss the ball back and forth before his mother passed away and he never got to see his grandfather again. They soon reached their floor. Walking out of the elevator Tony and McGee continued to talk about baseball.

“you know what?” Tony said, “You’ve convinced me Timmy. Thank you.”

Much to Ziva's surprise, “What would have caused you to thank McGee?”

“I’m thank him for his opinion, and I appreciate his insight.” Tony sounded serious in his statement.

“And just what, is his opinion on?” ZIva asked.

“Baseball -- specifically the use of instant replay.” McGee said, he started trying to explain the technical aspect however it went over their heads.

“it is just a sport. I do not understand this absurd obsession with it.”

The two of them try to explain the American passion for baseball to Ziva, who simply was not seeing the need to obsess over the game, no matter how important it was apparently.

While trying to convince her, Tony’s phone pings. Looking down he notices that it is from Gibbs telling him to gather the team and meet him at some radio station. Noting the name, Tony sighs, it was the station that he was listening to when was in the car. He called for the team and explained that Gibbs was already on his way to the crime scene and wanted them to meet him there. They all followed after him, ready for the day.

Once they made it to the radio station, Ziva and Tony went directly to the sound room to check the recordings while McGee joined Gibbs and Ducky in the studio where the bodies where. Tony didn’t pay much attention when McGee was talking about the victim, Adam Gator, and the background on the other victims and the show. Looking through the partition, Tony saw what might have been three gunshot wounds to at least one of the victims. Tony grabs the headphones and begins to play back the recording. “Boss,” he calls out, “you mind what to hear this.”

He presses a button to cause a teasing voice to fill the air, “stay tuned because after the break, I’ll be exposing what may be the next great threat to national security.”

Tony paused the recording, “boss I don’t think Gator was killed because of something he said. But something he was going to say.”

All of them stared a few minutes of before continuing to gather evidence and documentation before heading back to the Navy Yard to look into all leads or possible leads that could tie into the evidence that they had collected. On the way to the bullpen, Gibbs was informed that Mrs. Gator was in conference room one waiting for someone on the team to interview her. Gibbs turns to Tony and Ziva, “You two handle this.”

The two continued walking and bypassed their desk heading towards the conference room.

“Hello Mrs. Gator, I am Agent David and this is Agent DiNozzo. Thank you for coming in, we just have a few questions.”

The woman nodded her head frantically and sat up straighter in her chair. “Of course, anything to help.”

Tony leaves Ziva to take the main part of the interview while he opened his notebook to take notes of all her answers. “Did you husband receive any threatening mail or emails, maybe some phone calls? Anyone that seemed to have a problem with him personally? Or was there problems with the business?”

Mrs. Gator remarks on how they received angry and threatening messages all the time. She paused for a moment, “But one really stood out recently. It was some kind of extremist group, they claimed that they had a bomb and they were trying to get Adam to join them. He was so excited.”

Ziva was confused, “at the thought of a bomb?”

“Oh no, no” Mrs. Gator shook her head, “at the story. He thought it would make for a great show if he exposed them.”

“Oh, was this a message or did he actually answer the phone?” Tony spoke up.

Mrs. Gator looked over at him, “he answered the phone, why?”

“We might have been able to pull the record and got the name of who contacted your husband.”

“Oh, well Adam kept a record of everything. Emails, letters, he even recorded all of our phone conversations.”

“May we have access to those records?” Ziva asked.

“Sure,” Mrs. Gator bent down and pulled a box of some sort out from under the table. “I went ahead and brought them just in case.”

“Thank you that will really help.”

Tony grabbed the box as Ziva asked one of the junior agents to escort Mrs. Gator off the Navy Yard and was seen safely to her car. Tony took the box of records down to the squad room and sorted everything out into particular groups depending on what the topic of conversation was. He set aside the ones that had some sort of tie to war, extremist activity, or even government problems while the others seemed to be mundane or average dealings in an American household. One in particular seemed to catch Tony’s attention. It was a copy of Benjamin Franklin’s iconic image of the sectioned snake with the caption “Join or Die”. Flipped it over there was a signature, a “Matt L.” had signed it. The envelope that had the image in had no postmark or return address. Looking at the delivery address it was to the radio station’s post office box. With no postmark or return address it could have only been delivered by a postal employee. He handed the envelope to McGee so that he could start running all the postal employees to see if there were any leads there.

It took a few minutes, but McGee was able to find a name. Matthew Lane was a letter carrier in the area, and he was able to find his work route and home address. Tony immediately grabbed the information and left to interview Mr. Lane. While talking, Mr. Lane told Tony that he had asked Gator to record some free advertisement for the local YMCA, but he had been refused. Lane shrugged his shoulders, “I was just trying to give the man a hard time since he wasn’t willing to help out the community. Honestly, I was as shocked as everybody else when I heard that Gator was died.”

“Do you have an alibi for this morning when Gator and his guest were shot?” Tony asked.

Lane nodded his head and pulled out his electronic hand held planner. “I had a priority delivery to make this morning. The location was in the completely opposite direction.”

Tony lowered his head slightly, “Thank you for your cooperation. Have a nice day.”

They parted ways, Tony headed back to his car and prepared to get back to the Navy Yard to regroup with the others on the team to see what the plan was. There Gibbs told all them about this home grown terrorist group that was calling themselves the Military at Home or ‘MAH’ and that Abby had found out that the concerning call had come from someplace called Royal Woods.

“Royal Woods?” Tim was shocked. He quickly pulled up the developments website to show the others in the bullpen. “Its one of the wealthiest gated communities around.”

Ziva looked at the picture up on the screen, “But what does this whole MAH mean?”

“its an extremist group that believes that the US shouldn’t spend money or deploy our resources to other countries. They believe in using military funds to fight crime within our borders.”

“So there is a terrorist group in a community that’s right out of Killing the Cleavers.” Tony was trying to keep his mind open and not seem skeptical about all this.

Tim did a few searches, “Well there isn’t any red flags in the residents files.”

“We’ll need to get voice samples of all the men in the area then so we can make a comparison.” Gibbs noted. “Tony, you’re going undercover. Ziva, McGee you’ll back him up. Get ready while I talk to Abby about getting the technology do-dads ready.”

The three of them watched as Gibbs wandered back to the elevators. Tony just knew that this was going to be a long day, though he was glad that his friends would be there to have his back. If only he knew how frustrated his junior agents were about Tony being assigned to go undercover. Tony could just guess that at least Tim was aggravated that he wasn’t assigned again, just like when Abby was sent to that sex website undercover case. Oh well, it wasn’t the time for this. They needed to find out who had the bomb and keep them from detonating it. What if it was somewhere LA and Maria would be? He couldn’t let that happen.

They double checked that all the mics used and wired through the car and once Abby gave them the go ahead and the three of them headed out to the gated community. Tony started going over possible covers before deciding that he would pose as a potential buyer for his family. Once they were passed the gate, the car stopped and Tony stepped out and started walking from door to door while Tim and Ziva parked the car to wait for Tony. It took at least two hours before Tony came across someone that set his gut off. It was a non-descriptive man hurrying to his car. He noted that the commute wasn’t that bad once you got used to the traffic patterns and before saying that he was in a hurry and leaving. Tony thanked him before continuing onward.

Tony was thankful when he came to the penultimate house. Looking down at his watch he was closing in on four hours doing nothing but talking to strangers. It was a new record even for him and he tries to talk to his daughter all the time so that if anything ever happened she wouldn’t forget the sound of his voice. He coughed quickly before noting the address to his team. 

“Okay Probie, Ziva we are at 746 Howard Lane. One more to go and then we can go back and Abby can start looking through all these records. Probie you’re buying lunch, I need a calming drink after all this.” Tony knocked on the door. He took a step back when it was jerked open, revealing an angry man towering over him. His gut was churning like crazy.

He opened his mouth to begin speaking but all that came out was a guff as the front of his shirt was grabbed in a meaty hand and he was yanked into the foyer. He barely got his bearings when his head suddenly hit the wall as he was forcibly held in the air. The force that he was thrown against the wall with winded him, but he was a trained law enforcement and federal agent. He was still struggling to draw air into his lungs as he swung a fist right into the man’s jaw. His attacker's head snapped back, but only seemed to anger this person even more as he dropped him on the ground. He quickly pulled his mic up to his mouth and made sure that he was clear when he called for his back up. He staggered to his feet quickly as his assailant came at him again this time with a knife. As both men threw punches, Tony could feel the nicks from the knife increasing.

He called out again that this man was armed and assaulting a federal officer but still there was no rushing sound over the mic. He could feel his energy drain as the knife came in contact with his skin again and again.

“Sir! I am a federal agent! Put the knife down!” Tony demanded as he reached for his gun that was at his back. However the man didn’t seem to care, he lunged and stabbed Tony in the arm before he could pull out his gun.

“I don’t give two shits! You dared have an affair with my wife! You fucker! I’ll kill you!”

Tony had no idea what was going on. He hadn’t been with any woman since Jeanne and that hadn’t ended well. Besides he wanted to focus on his baby girl and give her a good life. But Tony recognized that this man was in a blind rage and wasn’t willing to listen to reason. He was going to have to fight for his life or at least until this man was subdued. While he continued to lose blood, Tony tried to remain focused on his opponent and his knife. Except, he was dizzy and started to lose focus and the man was able to land a punch to Tony’s solar plexus, Tony fell to the ground winded. His scarred lungs weren't able to last much longer.

The stranger jumped on top of Tony when he noticed that he was on the ground. He began to stab him repeatedly before throwing the knife off to the side and began to punch and kick the interloper. Tony had lost consciousness and was simply bleeding out at this point. Finally the man came down from his blood rage and saw what he had done. Just because he wanted to ruin his wife’s boytoy didn’t mean he wanted anyone to know that he had attacked someone. they might turn him in, the man ran to his garage and grabbed a tarp to wrap him up in. It took a little effort to get the unconscious man wrapped up completely but he managed and lugged him outside into the bed of his work truck. Closing the bed, the man looked down at himself and saw that he was covered in blood and ran back into his house to change and wipe off before throwing his bloody and ruined jeans and shirt in the bed along with the body. He glanced at the clock and knew that his wife wouldn’t be home for another hour at least so that gave him plenty of time to dispose of the guy in his bed and come back to mop up any blood from the fight. He heaved himself up into the driver’s seat and backed out of his driver way and pulled away. He didn’t even take any notice of the black car set on the curbside. He took a deep breath and tried to remain casual.

Ziva and McGee had no idea that they had just allowed Tony’s attacker to drive right by with their unconscious partner in the bed of his truck.

it took some time but McGee and Ziva finally realized that they should check in with Tony. They reasoned that he should be close to done interviewing the entire community. they turned the radio back on and tried to contact Tony through the mics. When they weren’t able to touch base with Tony they shared a look with each other.

“We’re going to have to call Gibbs.” McGee’s voice was filled with dread at the very thought of telling their boss what happened.

Ziva only stared at the silent radio, “Why? Tony waddled off, probably with some muff, no.”

McGee, however, was already pulling out his phone. “One its ‘wandered off’ not ‘waddled off’ and its ‘MILF’ not ‘muff’ and you know as well as i that Gibbs will know somethings up. He is already expecting all THREE of us back at the Navy Yard.”

Ziva huffed, she couldn’t stand it when they felt the need to correct her english. it is not her fault that they had so many slangs and idioms that have no translation in her native hebrew. “Why don’t we go back and just explain that Tony left. We are not at fault, we have the recordings and have not moved the car keeping an eye out for anything suspicious and there was nothing so the job is done. Just because Tony can not make it back to the car without a hand to hold is not our problem.”

McGee stared at his phone screen. He wanted to follow Ziva’s plan so badly, the thought of angering Gibbs still made him nervous and besides it would prove to the boss that Tony was not the right fit for the senior field agent position. He looked back out the window and it was just as silent and idyllic as it was when they parked the car four hours ago. He turned back to Ziva and nodded his head in agreement. They both of them set back and prepared to make their way back to the bullpen forgetting that Abby had wired the car for voice recordings as well as Tony and the car would be pulled into the evidence garage for her to gather the equipment from.

When they got back to the Navy Yard, they used all methods that they could think of to keep their minds off Tony and the fact that they had no clue where he was. Luckily enough for them it seemed that Gibbs was on his fifth coffee run already. This gave them a little more time to get themselves under control before he started demanding answers. They had already dropped the car off and started going through databases and making phone calls trying to find some connection to Royal Woods until Abby could get them the records. With the possibility of terrorism, everyone in the buidling knew that that evidence would get processed first. If only they knew just what exactly was on the recordings then they wouldn’t be so relaxed up in the squad room.

Once the car had been dropped off, Abby had immediately started cataloging everything though she was confused by the fact that the tag number for Tony’s mic was checked off and she couldn’t find it anywhere. She went ahead and collected the recordings, McGee and Ziva’s mics, as well as the mics from the car front seats and rear seats. She always liked to over prepare, making sure that all the mics were accounted for, she headed to her lab while placing a quick call to Gibbs to ask him to make sure she got Tony’s mic since it wasn’t turned into the evidence locker when the rest of them were.

After hanging up telling Abby that he would check to see what was going on, Gibbs frowned at his phone. He was not entirely sure what was going on, his gut was yelling at him about something, his team had been out at Royal Woods for almost five hours and Tony hadn’t turned in his mic. Tony would never make such a probie move as to forget the evidence he was wearing. He had been part of law enforcement for close to fifteen years, what with his six years in local law enforcement and then another nine years at NCIS. So why was Tony’s mic not with the others? He flipped his phone open once again and pressed 2, DiNozzo’s assigned speed dial. It rang for several seconds before his voicemail was read out to him asking for a message and a number to call back as soon as he could.

The simple fact that DiNozzo didn’t answer his call set the warning bells to ring in both his head and his gut. Never, not in all nine years as an NCIS agent, had Tony been unreachable. Once that rule had been shoved into his head, he never forgot it. So just what was going on? Gibbs decided that he didn’t have time to wait for answers. He called Abby back,

“How can I help you my silver fox?”

Gibbs would never understand Abby. Maybe he should stop getting her so many CafPows, but now was not the time to be thinking about that, “I need you to track DiNozzo’s phone.”

he quickly heard the typing of keys as Abby did what he asked. “Uh, that’s weird.”

“What is it, Abs?”

“Gibbs,” Abby’s voice was filled to the brim with confusion, “It says that Tony’s phone is near the Mount Vernon Trail. But why would his phone be there? I thought Tony was here in the building since Ziva and McGee are back. This doesn’t make any sense.”

Gibbs really hoped his bad feeling was wrong for once, “Abby, i need you to send me the directions to where Tony’s phone is pinging and then get back on those voice prints. I’ll let you know what I find.”

Abby quickly started sending the coordinates to the GPS in Gibbs government car. He rarely used it but after that case with Tony stuck with a murderous thief, Gibbs had tried to understand it a bit better. “Let me know what happens.” with that the both of them end the call. Abby tried to keep her focus on the voice prints, especially with how much she had to go through but she couldn’t help but hope and pray that Tony is okay.

Gibbs made his way to his car and started the engine. He pulled out of the parking lot and raced across the city keeping an eye on the GPS each time he needed to change directions. He needed to get to Tony and he needed to be there yesterday. He knew now that something was seriously wrong. Tony would never have thrown his phone away and Mount Vernon trail was in the opposite direction of Royal Woods. The team wouldn’t have even been in the area. A thirty minute drive turned into barely fifteen as he threw the car in park and began scanning the area trying to find any signs of DiNozzo anywhere. He took a glance at the GPS and noticed that it was pining in the woods and not at the edge. He noted the direction and took off looking for any trace. His skills as a marine were at the forefront as the broken twigs were unnatural and the angle of the breaks led him in a particular direction. Just when he was looking to the left he heard some type of rustling not too far from him. He headed towards the noise, finally getting to some type of clearing Gibbs was stunned by what he saw. Tony was barely conscious and trying to escape from some tarp like material. Gibbs noticed that there was blood leaking from the edges of the wrapping and Tony’s sluggish movement was probably due to blood loss. Gibbs rushed to Tony’s side and tried to keep him from moving too much. Pulling out his phone he quickly phoned Ducky and told him to get his coordinates from Abby. He needed an ambulance and a team to come out to where he was to process the scene. Though even as he said this, Gibbs noticed that there wasn’t much around him and that Tony was probably dumped here.

“Boss…” the voice was quiet, to quiet for this man, and raspy like it hurt to talk.

Gibbs looked down at DiNozzo and he could barely see his green eyes though the bruised and puffy eyelids. “Don’t try and talk, Tony, helps on the way.”

though since when has Tony ever listened, “Boss...promise...protect…LA.”

Gibbs knew who LA was, hell he probably was the only one, “Of course I will Tony. But you’re gonna be right there next to me protecting her. You’re gonna be fine.”

It seemed like Tony knew that Gibbs was trying to fool himself just as much as he was trying to reassure DiNozzo, “Ziva? McGee?”

“Back at the Navy Yard is my understanding.” seeing the dismay in his face, “Don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of everything.” Gibbs would make sure that those two knew just how angry he was that they had broken his number one rule. You never, ever abandon your partner.

He could almost relax when he heard the sirens letting him know that the ambulance was near. That meant help was coming. He wouldn’t lose the best agent he ever had. the EMTs pulled Gibbs away telling him that he needed to move so that they could get their work done. Usually this would have rustled Gibbs’ feathers, but this time he just quietly stepped back and looked over to see both Ducky and his assistant.

“Go with him Ducky.” Gibbs said as he walked over to the two of them. “He needs one of us and I need to figure out just what the hell happened.”

One of the EMTs walked over to them as the rest got the gurney underneath Tony and started wheeling him to the ambulance with an oxygen mask covering his face and an IV bag being held up to try and replenish the fluids he lost through heavy bleeding for so long.

“You’ll probably need these.” the young woman held out an evidence bag with a pair of denim jeans and a plain t-shirt in it. “They were wrapped up with the tarp. I didn’t have a big enough bag to put it in.

Gibbs bowed his head in thanks as he took the bag and set it in the trunk of his car before grabbing a large brown paper evidence bag. “so that i don’t lose any evidence I’ll need someone to assist me in folding it inward and bagging it.”

“I’ll help you with that. the others are already rushing your co-worker to the hospital.”

“Make sure its Bethesda, its primary doctor and pulmonologist both work there.”

“Pulmonologist?”

Gibbs didn’t even care that he was being questioned. “A criminal sent a modified version of the pneumonic plague and Tony was affected. It heavily scarred his lungs, but he survived.”

“Wow! A plague survivor. Didn’t even know that could still be possible in this day and age.”

Gibbs had met his word quota and just wanted to get the evidence back to Abby so that he could find the people that did this to his boyo. Once all the evidence in the surrounding area was collected and labelled correctly, Gibbs and Ducky along with Palmer headed towards their destinations. All three of them praying and hoping that Tony pulled through and they didn’t have to bury another friend.

on his way back to the office, Gibbs decided that he would have to make a call to the director.

“ _Vance.”_

“Gibbs.” His voice was growly, “The MAH case will need to be turned over. There is a problem and DiNozzo needs my help.”

_“What do you mean? Why am I not surprised that DiNozzo is causing problems again.”_

Gibbs was pissed off with the way the director acts toward DiNozzo. He was a good agent, one of the best and just because he wasn’t as computer reliant as McGee made his worth less in the eyes of the Director. “Vance, Tony is one of the best agents in NCIS and he is on his death bed right now. Just because you don’t give a damn, doesn’t mean that my team, my agent doesn’t matter.”

_“Remember that I am the director, he is MY agent as well.”_

“Maybe sometimes you need to remember that as well. He is an agent not your personal whipping boy for when you’re pissed off. At least when i’m angry i take it out on all of them and not just one agent out of thousands.”

_“Fine, I’ll turn that terrorist case over to Johnson and Balboa and his team can help you with DiNozzo’s case.”_

“I want Agents David and McGee taken off this case and interviewed.”

_“What does David and McGee have to do with this?”_

“They were with Tony on the undercover op and didn’t do anything when he never turned up and they haven’t said anything about Tony going missing. Something is not right.”

_“Just because you are suspicious of everyone doesn’t mean they ignored government protocol like that. They are good agents.”_

“If you don’t pulled them off my team, I certainly will make sure that IA takes them off. And we both know how I feel about IA interfering with my team.

_“Fine, I’ll let IA know so they can start an inquisition.”_

“Good, since a cover-up would not be good for your plans or image, Leon.” With that parting statement Gibbs snapped his phone shut, ending the call before Vance could comment. Gibbs knew that he got some perverse pleasure about getting the last word but he didn’t honestly care too much.

He decided that telling abby in person just what is going on seemed to be a better option than calling her. When he got there he was slightly stunned by what he saw when he walked into Abby’s lab. She was slumped on a stool and her head was bowed with her chin resting on her chest. There was sniffling and her shoulders would move up and down every so often. he forgot what he was there to do for a single moment, “Abs? what is it?”

Abby jerked her head up and looked shocked to see him. “Did you find him? please say you found him.” She pleaded and begged him to say that Anthony was okay. Somehow she knew that this was not the usual situation. He gathered her in his arms and shook his head in the negative manner.

“How could they do this to him!” she hollered.

Gibbs just shushed her gently, “Who did what, Abby?”

Abby pushed away from Gibbs to stare at him astounded, “Ziva and McGee of course. I ran two comparison: one for the voice print and the other i listened to personally and it showed that they intentionally turned the com off and Tony called out for help. I have the address of where he was attacked by the way. But they left him. he didn’t have any back up. there a gibbs’ rule about that AND an abby rule. how could they have abandoned him, Tony would never had done that to either of them.”

Gibbs was furious, he’d have their jobs, hell he’d have their freedom. If vance didn’t take a stance against those two Gibbs certainly would. “Abby i need you to make multiple copies of those records that prove Tony was left without backup and that he called out for help okay. One needs to be sent to IA, one to vance, and two to me. I’ll make sure that a copy is kept safe.”

Abby started to wipe away her tears as the sadness and disbelief subsided leaving only anger. She nodded in understanding before moving over to her desk and began burning copies for all those that needed it. Gibbs grabbed a hold of her shoulder gentle, “we’ll take care of this. You do anything for family.”

there was a ding from his phone, he preferred phone calls to text messages but in this case he didn’t mind as long as he got the information he needed. “It appears as though Ziva and McGee have already been taken to interview rooms.”

“How did they manage that, I’m sure that we’d have heard them shouting from down here if they were dragged to an interrogation room without warning.”

Gibbs smirked, he generally didn’t like IA but he liked those who deserted their partners even less. “it says that they were told it was simply to go over any discrepancies in their reports before handing the case off to Johnson’s team.”

Abby smiled at Gibbs, “give ‘em hell, my silver fox.”

Gibbs kissed her cheek, “i always do.”

While Gibbs made his way up to the interrogation rooms, McGee and ziva had been placed in separate rooms. McGee took a deep breath, this was nothing unusual to him. He was used to being asked to explain what his reports mean. No one ever seemed to appreciate the effort he went to to give them the details of how the work was done. then again maybe tony had made it back and he was causing problems again with his prankster behavior and attitude so he, Tim McGee had to be pulled away from his work to fix Tony’s mistakes. like always, Tim sighed. he was ready for this whole thing to be over already.

He looked towards the door as it was opened and two agents in suits walked into, one was a man that wasn’t not overly tall maybe average height at around 5’10” and brown hair cut close to his ears. There wasn’t anything remarkable about him. next to him stood a woman that was obviously trying to hard to not be considered attractive. McGee thought that she had probably had one too many run ins with Tony if she was trying to hide how beautiful she was. her chocolate brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun, she had glasses that set delicately on her nose and was wearing a pants suit probably to cover anyone from scrutinizing her legs. They both moved to sit down across from McGee, this made him uncomfortable. He was used to asking the questions, but the sooner this was over the sooner he could get back to work. he needed to show gibbs that he would make a better SFA than that goof ball DiNozzo.

“Hello Agent McGee, my name is Agent Bradley Sheloke and this is my partner Agent Aren Cabut. We just have a few questions about the MAH case.”

McGee scowled, “you know as well as I that there is no talk about an active investigation.”

The man, Sheloke or something, smiled indulgently. it made McGee want to hit him, “you must not have heard, Abby Scuito was able to get a voice match and he was arrested not ten minutes ago. They searched his home and found the bomb along with his cohorts. That means it is no longer active as a confession is unnecessary. Now what was your assignment today when you were sent out to Royal Woods?”

“To gather voice prints for comparison of a voicemail that the victim Adam Gater got a week ago.”

Sheloke crossed his arms in front of him on the table, “And how were you supposed to gather these voice prints?”

“Lead Senior Agent Gibbs gave agent DiNozzo the assignment of collecting the voice records while Agent David and myself were to back him up.”

Opening the case file, Cabbage or Cabie, or whatever the female on was scanned through it, “And just how, Agent McGee were the two of you supposed to provide back up?”

McGee settled back in his seat at ease, they didn’t know anything. Ziva must have messed up her report with hebrew words again and they needed him to clarify her spotty report, “We were stationed in a government issued car and listened to Agent DiNozzo over the radio as he interacted with each resident.”

“if that’s true why are there two hours unaccounted for in both of your reports?”

This caused McGee to jump to attention. he barely stopped himself from his reactive actions. “excuse me, all the time was accounted for. We listened to tony for two hours speak with the neighbors and when he didn’t come back to the car even after another two hours we decided that he had returned to a house and was having a “good time”. Wouldn’t surprise me, the man is a perpetuate womanizer and takes nothing serious even our job.”

Sheloke leaned forward slightly, “even if Senior Field Agent DiNozzo did indeed return to a house for sexual intercourse, wouldn’t you have heard it? you were listening to him over the radio and your communication devices correct?”

McGee gulped in anxiety, “well yes, however after he started I zoned out. there is only so much one man can take when having to listen to his colleague talk about school districts or flower bed fertilizer. tony doesn’t even have any children or do lawn work.”

Cabut stared at the agent across from her, she had listened to the audio file that Dr. Scuito had sent them and she couldn’t believe that they had made it this far as agents. “you were searching for homegrown terrorist and you just zoned out, did i understand that correctly?”

‘Well put that way it sounded bad,’ Mcgee thought to himself, “Just because I zoned out didn’t mean that Ziva wasn’t paying attention to him. He was fine, it was the suburbs nothing was going to happen. What is this about anyway? why are you asking aboutTony? did he screw up again. if he made a mistake that is not my fault. i’m sure many people in the agency can see that Tony should not have been allowed to get away with so much. I mean he failed at an undercover op, breaking the first rule and fell in love with his mark. Just how stupid could he be?”

the two IA agents shared a look of disbelief. they turned back to Tim McGee, “another thing that came to our attention was that your publisher is hounding you for your next chapter. Are you sure that you didn’t leave your partner on his own so that you could work on your next chapter?”

McGee jolted forward, “No! I didn’t leave tony on his own, i’m sure Ziva was aware of what was going on. she was an assassin for Mossad staying aware of your surroundings is something she is great at.”

“so you felt safe enough to zone out and leave all the work to your partner?”

“no! i do not appreciate you twisting my words like that. I am a good agent. i scored highest in my class in FLETC i was chosen for the premier MCRT team after doing my rotations after FLETC and have only been on the up and up. even when Gibbs left, our closure rate still didn’t fall, which everyone thought was Tony’s leadership when it was actually me and Ziva that held this team together during those months. if tony ran into a problem or issue it wasn’t due to me or Ziva it was because he was incompetent and couldn’t do his job correctly.” Mcgee slammed his hands down on the desk, “now if you’ve asked all your ridiculous questions i need to get back to work.”

neither sheloke or cabut reacted to his violent outburst, “Actually no we aren’t done, but we will leave to let you cool down before we continue. though when we start again, we recommend you tell us the truth. We will see you later, Agent McGee.” the two IA agents closed the case files in front of them and walked out the door. they made sure that there was someone posted at the door so that McGee didn’t think about leaving.

Mcgee was truly shaken up by that interview. As he worked to calm his breathing and racing heart when he realized something. Since they questioned him in an interrogation room, the entire time was recorded both visually and audible. if they truly had questions and he wasn’t in trouble why weren’t they in a conference room? something was going on and Mcgee didn’t know if he was ready for whatever was coming his way.

though while Mcgee started to stew in his worries and concerns, the two agents moved on to the room where Ziva had been placed. It was now time to interview her. They walked in and could tell that the former mossad agent was not happy.

“Will this take long? my boss will not be happy if i do not complete my work.”

“As long as you answer our questions with complete honesty this shouldn’t take long at all. i am Agent Bradley Sheloke and this is my partner Agent Aren Cabut.”

Ziva just stared at them as they took their seats and set a case file in front of them on the table. “Now Agent David, please explain to us about the MAH case that was turned over to Agent Johnson and his team.”

“What about that case? it is still active and i have nothing to do with this MAH terrorist group so there is no point in questioning me.”

“Agent Johnson was able to make an arrest after Abigail Scuito was able to positively identify the voice and a confession was obtained so the case is no longer considered active by the agency. Now please explain your part in this case.”

Ziva leaned back in her chair and tried to appear as calm and collected as someone that had nothing to hide, “Fine we were called out to a triple homicide due to one of the victims being a naval officer that made it NCIS jurisdiction. We discovered that the radio shower host, Adam Gater, was being threatened by an extremist group. the wife allowed us access to his recordings and accounts and our forensic scientist was able to locate the origin of the threatening call. It lead us to Royal woods, we were not able to obtain a warrant with the little evidence we had so it was determined that we would have an undercover operation where one of the agents went door to door and spoke with the residents and recorded their voices which Abby Sciuto would then compare to the voicemail. However, we had just returned to the navy yard, when we were ordered by the director to turn all our collected evidence and preliminary report over to Agent Johnson and his team.”

“So an agent was sent undercover by themself? no one else was assigned to this op?”

“No,” Ziva shook her head, “it was a team of three. two of us stayed in the car while the other spoke with the community.”

Sheloke looked at her in confusion for a moment, “so when you say “us” do you mean in a direct sense? where you yourself one of the agents chosen to go undercover?”

“No, I was assigned as backup. even though i could have completed the op myself as i had far more experience in this form of espionage then the agent chosen but that is neither here nor there. I did my job.”

“So you do not believe that they agent chosen was a good match to this undercover operation?” Cabut asked looking up from the files.

Ziva shrugged her shoulders, “Well the objective was to talk and the agent that was picked could talk your feet off, but we needed their voice not his.”

“I believe you mean “talk your ear off” thought that is unimportant. Are you saying that Lead Senior Agent Gibbs made a bad call in assigning Senior Field Agent Dinozzo as the operative?”

Ziva snorted, “now he had you guys calling him the senior field agent. he isn’t, that is just some stupid title he came up with for himself.”

“Actually it isn’t, Agent David. all field teams are structured with a lead Senior Agent, a Senior Field agent, a junior agent and a probationary agent that will eventually become a junior agent in one of the departments. Anthony DiNozzo was promoted to senior field agent his second year with the agency according to his file, almost five months before agent Caitlyn Todd was hired and added to their team. Now would you please specify what job was in Royals Woods.”

“My job was backup, Agent DiNozzo was chosen to speak with the residents. I was listening to his conversations in case of an emergency along with agent McGee.”

“How long did you listen to Agent DiNozzo talk?”

Ziva shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know over the years I have gotten quite skilled in the art of ignoring DiNozzo when he starts rambling.”

“So you weren’t providing back up?”

“Of course i was. I was there."

“But you just admitted that you were ignoring him. how would you know that he needed help if you weren’t paying any attention to his conversations.”

“It was the suburbs, there couldn’t possibly be that many threats to a man that claims to be well trained.”

Cabut leaned on the table slightly, “but you said that you were looking for extremist wouldn’t that mean that there was a major threat in that area.”

“if tony has made a mistake than that is not my problem. We listened to him talk for over two hours and then it was silent. we continued to wait but he never showed up back at the car.”

“So Agent Dinozzo was on foot while you and agent mcgee remained in the car?”

“yes.”

Sheloke set back in his chair, “so not only did you just admit to ignoring him but you more than likely didn’t even have a visual on him.”

“We did not need a visual on Tony he would read off the address before continuing to have a conversation with the resident.”

“That’s enough for now, however we haven’t finished and so you can not leave this room until out report as been read by the director. Excuse us Agent David.”

Ziva’s brows were scowled as she watched the two agents walk out the door. Why did they need to use an interrogation room for some simple questions? Something smelled....horsey...no its...its fishy. yes something smells fishy. Though it was an irritant that they are not letting her get back to her work. Oh well she would surely send Gibbs after them when she explained everything.

What neither of them knew was that Tony was in trouble, just not the kind they thought. Gibbs had driven over to the hospital to see if they would tell him anything about his agent. Luckily enough for him Ducky was out in the waiting room, though he was confused by the confused look on his face.

“You changed shirts?”

“Yeah, Tony keeps a few extra things at the office and i just grabbed one of them. i don’t think he’ll mind at the moment, Duck. Do you know anything? is he alright?”

“I won’t lie to you Jethro. Anthony should not have made it as long as he did. there was a number of twenty-seven stab wounds, several broken bones -- his ribs, his right arm, his left clavicle, his right femur -- and the doctors said that there was serious injury to his back. There’s even a few skull fractures, he is still in surgery at the moment.”

“Do you, do you know how long he was out there Ducky? how long did it take for me to find him?”

Ducky looked conflicted, like he didn’t want to answer that for that amount of blood loss it had to be a couple to several hours.”

“Hours, it took four hours for Ziva and McGee to get back to the office.” 

Ducky placed his hand on Gibbs’ shoulder, “if I were to estimate given Anthony’s medical history I’d guess that he was left to bleed for close to two or three hours if not more. Jethro, I hate to say this but this happened under Ziva and Timothy’s watch.”

Gibbs growled from low in his belly, a feral sound that signaled his true ferocious anger which would be aimed at any that crossed his path. “Are you absolutely positive, Ducky? This is not something to be taken lightly.”

“I know Jethro, but it’s my professional opinion though its not an exact time. However, you need to remain calm Jethro, this is not the time for you to start making you’re way through the office like a hurricane. There will be time for destroying those two later, but right now you need to remain calm or they will never allow you to see Anthony once he’s out of surgery.”

Gibbs tried that deep breathing crap he’d heard about before, “Trying here Ducky. But they didn’t have his six. I saw the bruises on his knuckles and other defensive wounds this was not a simple fight. They willingly turned that radio off and left him alone knowingly. The recordings so a large amount of insubordination, did I allow them to think it was okay? is this my doing?”

“No, Jethro, no. While I have wished that you would show a bit more gratitude towards that man and how much he has done for you and this team but that does not mean that you forced those two to turn the line of communications off and leave Anthony alone.”

“I still should have seen something.” Gibbs started beating himself up over this. That man was like a son to him, Tony had been there for him through a lot over the years, even when Gibbs himself didn’t want anyone there. Back when he lost his memory Tony was the only one that seemed to realize that he needed to get away from it all and didn’t leave a crying or angry message on his phone before he got rid of it.

“Jethro, I don’t believe any of us saw that extreme amount of arrogance from either of them. We all saw the jabs and sassy remarks, but we thought it was friendly banter. That doesn’t mean they would have left him without backup. There was no indication that they would have done this before.” Ducky tries to reason with Gibbs.

This caused him to snort, “They brought that whole act of his. Honestly DiNozzo should have dropped that stupid act a long time ago but everyone just underestimated him and it gave him the upper hand so I left it alone now look at what that’s got him.”

“There is a reason he is the most sought-after undercover agent and it certainly isn’t because he lacks skills or intelligence. They are far to arrogant in their abilities and are obtuse to their surroundings. Though they are not the only ones ignorant of our Anthony’s skills. What is Director Vance going to do about this?”

Neither man said anything only looking at each other.

While the two friends were at the hospital waiting for news about Anthony, the director was trying to formulate a plan for this incident. He had played the audio files that Dr. Sciuto had sent him. It astounded him that two of his agents, two of his brightest agents had broken protocol. He only knew as much as Dr. Mallard was willing to tell him since his acting doctors wouldn’t break HIPPA laws to tell him anything and Gibbs would never willingly tell him anything. While DiNozzo wasn’t his favorite man or agent, Vance wouldn’t wish this situation on anyone. He remembered his first case when his partners abandoned him, that trust was something that was indescribable. You are placing your very life in someone else’s hands and the control is no longer solely yours. When that is broken it can not be fixed like most, it will always leave a speck of doubt in the back of your mind.

When he had looked through DiNozzo’s file after he was deployed as an agent afloat and truthfully he was amazed by what he read in his dossier. Not many people much less police officers and federal agents continue their education after joining the force but DiNozzo continued on adding to his original major and minor of Physical Education and Business administration, respectively. He was able to obtain a Master of Science in Human Biology and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice along with a second Bachelors of Arts in music. Though he hadn’t looked recently, Vance would bet that DiNozzo was continuing at least one of those Masters at a PhD level. Then there is all of his commendations for his undercover work throughout his employment with multiple departments then there are the requests from other agencies for him to be moved or loaned out to one of them for something or other. The amount of poaching for DiNozzo forced Vance to rethink his initial thoughts about what kind of agent and man he is exactly.

Words echoed in his head, the words bouncing around and refusing to be ignored. -- “I have more skills in my pinky toe than Tony. Its always dumbfounded me that Gibbs made him his SIC. He’s not even that bright, i mean he only had a degree in P.E.”, “He was a simple cop. I can say that there are way too many LEOs and some are better than Tony ever was, why are they not noticed?”, “No way he got a gold shield, no one would be stupid enough to give him that much responsibility.” -- what does it say about his agency that these two are herald as top investigators? they can not even see what is truly in front of them. Vance may not have liked DiNozzo but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t see that DiNozzo’s ability as a field agent were above par. It was a hard pill to swallow but Vance wondered if he had something to do with their attitude. Could he have done something to prevent this from happening? he shook his head, trying to throw that self-pity mindset out of his head. No one had seen their hatred of DiNozzo, and if their closest friends couldn’t see it then surely the distant director couldn’t have seen anything either.

Thinking about their arguments of having better skills than DiNozzo, Vance compared the work done by the two man team and the four man team. Even before Caitlyn Todd was added to the team Gibbs and DiNozzo’s closure rate remained in the mid to high ninety percent, far better than any other MCRT team in the entire agency. This meant that those two didn’t really add any skills to the team. Though they probably helped to close a case faster as the work was being split between four people instead of two but that didn’t validate their statements.

Though even if he wished to cover up this fuckery it would be impossible, he did see that Abby Sciuto had also sent a copy of the audio files to every single IA agent and there was little to no chance that they would ignore this problem, not with so many people watching. IA would probably pull in JAG as the legal prosecution and depending on the JAG lawyer those charges will not just mysteriously disappear. IA had already sent him the preliminary interviews and they were not looking good. they had lied, perjured themselves, failed to ask if Tony was all right, and they were belligerent with the investigators. it was not looking good for them. Vance had yet to decide if he would watch their secondary interview or just wait for the information to be given to him. he put his head in his hands, this was such a mess. SECNAV had already been in touch and was not happy with where this is going or has already gone. an agent injured not because of recklessness but because of partner abandonment was not looking good for any of them. They needed to prove that favoritism or excellence will not allow any leeway with the law or the protocols that everyone has to agree to and understand when starting at NCIS.

Vance would need to inform IA that SECNAV had stripped them of the title “Agent” so that they will no longer be referred to as such in the interviews. He had no idea just what this day was holding when he woke up this morning.

While at the hospital, Ducky had managed to bring Gibbs a coffee before disappeared back into the operating room to check on DiNozzo. His emotional state was all over the place, he was worried, agitated, and furious alongside other emotions that was attacking him. he needed his partner to be okay. Tony was like a son to him, he had watched him grow from that suspicious and wary man to a fun loving and lively adult as well as an amazing father. DiNozzo’s little girl didn’t deserve this. Just thinking about the fact that DiNozzo had a child reminded Gibbs that no one had called the nanny to let her know what was going on. He pulled out his phone and found the contact information that DiNozzo had given him for instances like this.

It took at least two rings but the phone was picked up, “Hello Dinozzo residence. How can i help you?”

“This is Agent Gibbs, I’m Dinozzo’s boss. Are you Maria the nanny?”

there was a pause for a second, “What is DiNozzo’s favorite pass time?” it was a security question, either tony taught her well or he picked well.

“He loves teaching his daughter piano.”

“Okay, so you are who you say you are Agent Gibbs. Did something happen to Anthony? You wouldn’t call us if everything is alright.”

Gibbs gathered a breath, he had delivered these messages for a long time but it never got any easier explaining to families that their loved ones were victims of some sort. “DiNozzo was attacked brutally. He is currently in surgery here at Bethesda, I just didn’t want you or LA to worry since I highly doubt he will be awake much less ready to be sent home tonight.”

there was a gust of air on the other side of the phone, “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll try to distract LA but i doubt that will last long. Keep me updated on his progress and when he will be ready for visitors please.”

Gibbs nodded his head even though Maria couldn’t see him, “Of course, Maria. I will let you know more when i know more.”

“thank you for calling agent gibbs.”

he had just shoved his phone back in his pocket when Ducky exited the restricted section there was an exhausted and hesitant smile on his face, “Anthony is alive and holding his own. his heart stopped twice on the table. the blood loss was too much for his body to handle in its condition but we got him fighting again. This is not going to be an easy road, especially with his back injury but he will make it through.’

“His back injury? will he still be able to do field work?”

Ducky didn’t seem like he wanted to answer, “the knife sliced through the cartilage disk between his L4 and L5 and cut several nerve pathways that are part of his spinal cord…”

“caveman english, Ducky.”

“Anthony was paralyzed from the waist down. He will be in a wheelchair and won’t be able to return to the field Jethro.”

Gibbs could almost feel the earth shift beneath his feet. His best agent could no longer be an agent, he would never walk again never be able to walk LA down the aisle when that dreaded day comes. DiNozzo had the fight of his life ahead of him and nothing will be “normal” again. They all need to find a new normal and a reality that has DiNozzo, always moving DiNozzo, would be in a wheelchair instead. that just was incomprehensible to him.

“What about the rest?”

"His spleen needed to be removed, a portion of his lower intestine had to be sewn shut and removed, there was a portion of his lungs that were taken out. there had to place some sutures on his heart to close a small wound but surprisingly there was less serious wounds than i thought there would be.”

Besides the news about his legs, Gibbs was glad to hear that there was nothing more concerning and everything had been handled correctly.

“Bradley has put him on a ventilator to assist his lungs, his broken bones have been secured back into place to help them heal correctly and his spinal cord has been healed to the best of their abilities to ensure there is no worsening of his vertebrae’s condition. He will need to be very careful since there is some severe bruising around his kidneys and liver. Other than that he is in surprising good condition for this situation. jethro, don’t been surprised by the EKG machine instead of the normal pulse monitor since his heart got a little damaged from the knife and stopped twice on the table they want to take every precaution available to help him heal. His brain activity is also within normal range so there is little to no probability that he’s sustained a head injury. i don’t say this lightly, having seen his injuries but I believe that Anthony will be just fine given time.”

“when will he be able to have visitors, Ducky.” Gibbs was already wondering when LA should be allowed to come and see her daddy. the two of them were all each other had and they had a close bond that not many could replicate.

“Anthony will be set up in the ICU for a while and only allowed two visitors at a time, but that wouldn’t be few a little a while. What with his medical history that want to keep him in isolation for an hour or two before moving him. Come, lets grab a bit to eat and you can update everyone that needs to be updated. Abigail is probably frantic by now not knowing anything.”

Abby wasn’t the only one wondering what was going on. McGee and Ziva were left to stew in their individual interrogation rooms wondering when this charades would be over. Mcgee wiggled up from his slouched position in his seat when the IA agents from earlier came back in.

“Just a few more questions, Mr. McGee.” They had already been notified that their employment with NCIS was terminated and they would no longer be addressed as agent.

McGee didn’t miss the lack of title, it cause anger to boil in the pit of his stomach, he had worked his ass off through FLETC and in the field to get where he was. He earned his title of agent and these petty paper pushers should at least show him some respect for that alone. “It’s agent and lets get this over with. I have work that needs to get done.”

“In your earlier statement, you said that Agent DiNozzo had been chosen for this operation. How was this decision made?”

McGee smiled, finally they were getting somewhere with these stupid interviews, “Agent DiNozzo has a mouth that runs for miles. He can talk about anything and everything, there never seems to be a silent moment in the office when we’re around him.”

Agent Cabut lifted a corner of the file in front of her, appearing as though she was looking at something without bending over, “It says here in Agent Gibbs report that he picked Agent DiNozzo for his undercover skills and skills in person-person interactions. Do you believe this it be untrue?”

McGee threw his shoulders up in a shrug, “If thats what my boss wrote then that must be what he was thinking. i haven’t seen his so called skills in undercover work before so i can’t say for sure that is a reason. All i have seen him do is talk and he talks a lot.”

the two IA investigators looked at one another, this puzzle wasn’t looking too good. Agent Sheloke leaned forward on the table, “Can i infer that you felt that another agent would have been able to conduct those interviews in a more professional manner?”

McGee smiled at them, all filled with self assuredness and pride, “I know for a fact that I myself and Agent David would have been able to conduct those interviews with more professionalism and dignity. Agent DiNozzo is a class clown, however, most people seem to believe that as long as the job gets done then it is nothing to warrant a reprimand. Though he was picked and it was my job to follow orders as backup.”

Seeing that his audience was staring at him, McGee believed that at least these two was starting to see that DiNozzo is not the golden agent that everyone makes him out to be. maybe they would listen to what he had to say. “Look nothing Tony says is ever important. He doesn’t believe there is anything serious or sacred in this world. I tuned his conversations out, they were boring nothing stimulating. I realized that the radio was silent and we waited for Tony to come back to the car but he never did. thats all.”

Agent Cabut’s eyes lit up with some form of vindictive pleasure, “the radio was silent?”

“yes, that’s what i said.”

“So you didn’t even hear the wind or his breathing?”

That stumped McGee. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish trying to suck in air. “i mean...that isn’t true, we could clearly hear him breathing and the other noises but he wasn’t having any more conversations. thats what i meant by silent. thats all.”

It didn’t seem like either agent believed him but they let that lie for a minute while Agent Sheloke spoke up. “You and Agent David were assigned as his backup; this wasn’t the time to “tune out” or “zone out” on anyone. this was a murder investigation that became a terrorist cell hunt, this was not as harmless as attending a child’s play and you are now on record stating that you tuned your partner out. this is exactly how you described your own actions”

it was almost unbelievable that these two individuals thought that it was okay to abandon their partner who was out walking the streets. it disgusted him not to mention that neither of them seemed to be too concerned about why they were there and just where Tony was.

“We have diverged from the questions, lets get back on track. Now we have established that you are standing by your earlier statement correct?”

McGee looked back and forth between the two agents in front of him puzzled, why were they questioning his statement. They couldn’t have known that he and Ziva had turned the radio off. there was nothing recording them. there mics had just been to communicate with Tony, hadn’t they? Well even if they did record more than he expected it would take far longer to get to their discussion. abby was a professional and she knew that tony was a problem so even if she had completely skipped over the voice print and listened to their conversation she wouldn’t have turned them in. No, this is something bigger but the answer just seems to slip from Mcgee’s grasp, “Yes I am standing by my earlier statement.”

“the thing is, Mr. McGee is that you have remembered the events completely different to what this report in front of me says. the only true bit of your statement is that Agents Dinozzo and David were there and that you had been assigned as backup.”

McGee got slightly anger at the being called a liar, even if it was true. “And just what is different? i told you that i stopped listening to Dinozzo.”

Sheloke pulled something out of the file and placed it in front of him, looking down McGee saw that the header read that it was the transcript from the recording. “what do you want me to do with this? if abby gave it to you then it is absolutely correct. the only one a part of our team that is not dedicated to their work is Tony. Abby would never make a mistake unless she was sick and not a full health.”

“So you admit that everything in this report is true, is that what i’m understanding?”

“Yes.”

“Please start reading on page 6 and tell us if you want to continue telling us that you “tuned” Agent DiNozzo out.” Cabut sneered.

the two agents watched at the man flipped to the correct page and began reading though the further he went the paler his complexion paled. McGee tried to find something to say as his own words came back to bite him in the ass. the derogatory and demeaning words just threw themselves off the page almost as though he had shouted them.

“I….how….”he decided to settle on anger, “How did you get copies of a private conversation, you had no legal right to use these words against me.

“thats not entirely true,” Sheloke smirked, “you see you said this in an agency car that was wired to record all sounds including you and Ms. David. This is legally obtained and is completely miscible in court so be very careful of what you say now.”

McGee gulped, an his nervous tick -- a twitching eyelid -- start up as he tried to wiggle his way out of this. “Okay, so what? I am allowed to have my opinion about people. I just stated that opinion out loud, this is not a crime. I am not required to like the people i work with.”

“true, as long as you can do your job then you are not required to like your co-workers. However, this is completely different. go ahead and turn to page 9.”

McGee sighed, “is this really necessary. I’m quite capable of handling more complex information, i do not require you to simplify things.”

Agent Cabut’s voice turned growly as she leaned in menacingly. “you capability of doing you job is what we are questioning not the way you handle information. the structure of this interview is up to us and is none of your concern. Is that clear?”

“Doing my job! I do my job well. I was named the agent of the future and the director has set me as an example for other agents to follow and live up too. If that is not a ringing endorsement for my suitability at handling my job then nothing is.”

Sheloke shrugged his shoulders. “that was then this is now and we are questioning your capability in the field as backup for your fellow agents. Now read the section that we have pointed out.”

McGee turned the page and read the page over and over again. He wanted to curse, there wasn’t a good way to explain this away.

“i see that you’ve finally gotten to the damning piece of evidence.” Cabut leaned back in her chair as she stared at McGee hard and unrelentingly “You think we should turn the radio back on.”

“You see, Mr. McGee,” Sheloke picked at his finger nails as though he had no care in the world right then, “You didn’t turn him out, you intentionally turn him off. this is not proper backup. this is not how you do your job on an undercover mission. You lied.Do you have anything to say now?“

McGee squirmed in his seat and fidgeted with his hands, he was trying to think of something anything to get out of this without serious consequences. Gibbs needed him and Tony always forgave them when they did stuff like this. It would be fine. Nobody would get rid of him. “it was just a joke.” his voice was barely heard in the silent room, “He plays jokes and tricks on us all the time, why couldn’t we do the same thing? Besides his conversations were annoying and his voice turned scratchy after a while and it wasn’t pleasant to listen to.

Agent Sheloke opened a second file, “your right, Agent DiNozzo plays practical pranks all the time. However not once has he ever been written up for playing a prank out in the field. Has his pranks ever endangered you life? were you ever unsafe or without backup? Has anyone, even the “incompetent and jokester” DiNozzo, sent you into a dangerous situation without being prepared/”

These questions case heat to rush McGee’s cheeks. “No, No, he hasn’t. This got out of hand, I will admit, and i lost track of time. But there wasn’t any sound in the neighborhood and the coms will undoubtedly prove that nothing happened. Agent DiNozzo wandered off and didn’t respond when we called out for him.

“Mr. McGee you might want to turn back to page 5 and read the interaction that you missed during you time of silence.”

mcgee did as they said, but the longer he read the page the more it didn’t make sense. DiNozzo was fine, he had to be. However, from what he read he wasn’t without some bruises and a little blood split.

McGee needed to try and get out of this at least one more time, “turning the radio off was Ziva’s idea any way. I tried to stop her though she is trained as an assassin and spy from Mossad. “

Agent Cabut sighed, “what part of recording everything is lost on you?”

McGee was outraged he sat straighter trying to look down on the agents across from him. “I understand completely thank you very much. there is no reason or need to talk down to me as though i am uneducated and can not make sound decisions.”

Sheloke only stared at him, “Yes, Mr. McGee, you can make decisions in fact if you turn to page 10 you will see that you made a decision. a decision to not call you senior agent and tell him that his SFA wasn’t in contact. You made a decision to allow Ms. David to turn off the radio and never tried to talk her out of it or turn it back on once her hand was removed from the dial. You can make decisions. I am just not sure that you are correct about a sound decision. is there anything else you would like to say Mr. Mcgee?”

“No.” McGee shook his head, “It was just a joke. I am sure Tony will understand that when this is all over.” mcgee looked at the two agents, “I’ll apologize.”

“Is that supposed to fix this?”

“It will take time I’m sure. But there was no harm intended. Where is Tony, anyway? I imagine that he is waiting around to use this as a source for having me do menial tasks from now on.”

the two agents could only look at McGee as he spoke. The word that had spewed from his mouth were unfathomable. He truly thought that simply saying he was sorry would fix this mess. They stood and walked to the exit before closing the door after them Sheloke turned to Agent McGee, “if you must know, Agent Dinozzo is at bethesda hospital fighting for his life from 27 stabs words and severe blood loss along with other major injuries.”

The information seemed to make the impact that they wanted, “that Mr.McGee is what happens to your partner when you don’t have their six. You will be charged and read your rights to you shortly I would start thinking about which lawyer you will be calling.”

There wasn’t much to do other than see what Ziva would say when faced with the facts. The agents looked at each other before nodding their head in a decisive manner, they headed straight to Ziva’s interrogation room and get this all over with before filing their reports and findings. When they entered the room, they saw that Ziva was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest with a scowl painted on her face. While she had been left in the room, she had not been able to think of any reason for this interrogation. It didn’t appear to be routine investigation; nothing is making any sense to her.

“Hello again, Ms. David.” the man said as he sat down with his partner right beside him.

“It’s Agent David.” Ziva said agitatedly, “Are we about done here. I have sat here for far longer than necessary I am sure and my work is no doubt suffering for it.”

“Just to remind you were we finished the first time, you stated that you to backup Agent DiNozzo as he acquired voice prints in Royal Woods?”

“Yes. My job was to be the backup, Agent DiNozzo was chosen to speak with the residents. I was listening to his conversations in case of an emergency along with agent McGee.”

“And you said that you had ignored DiNozzo and his rambling?”

Ziva could see how that could come across as bad. “No, I didn’t ignore my partner. That means I was doing my job poorly; I just wasn’t not paying that close attention to what he was saying. I was trying to focus on any threats.

“But in your earlier statement you did admit to ignoring him. I also have it here that you said that there weren’t many threats in the suburbs.”

Sheloke ignored his partner and cut in, he could see that they were getting no where with the assassin. “you stated that Agent DiNozzo was chosen to go undercover, just how was this determined? Earlier you said that the chosen agent talk your ear off. Was that how?”

There was a flash of some type of emotion however she schooled her emotions quickly, “Agent DiNozzo does not have the ability to be silent along with the fact that his decorum and professionalism is lacking. Agent DiNozzo talks and doesn’t stop.”

Sheloke was disgusted by the woman. Cabut pulled out DiNozzo’s file and opens it, “Agent Gibbs states in his report that he chose Agent DiNozzo due to proficient skills and experience with undercover work. It also states that Agent DiNozzo is personable and thrives on making others comfortable around him. It seems to be that he was correctly chosen for this job given the need for voice prints.”

Ziva shrugged, “That may be. I have only been on one op with him and I saw nothing spectacular in terms of undercover skills. I have no doubt that Agent McGee could have fulfilled the role adequately. Though while I cannot tell you his ability undercover, I will readily acknowledge that he is able to run his mouth with great ease and will talk to anyone and anything that stands long enough to listen. He has what you Americans call an engine mouth? Yes?”

Sheloke wondered if this woman got these idioms wrong on purpose, “I believe you mean a motor mouth.”

“yes yes, that is what I meant.”

Cabut and Sheloke couldn’t believe what they were seeing between these two. The picture being painted was not a thing of beauty.

“So we’ve established that you didn’t believe Agent DiNozzo was the right pick for this job. We’ve read in your report that you hadn’t heard from Agent DiNozzo for about two hours correct?”

“Yes, as I stated earlier I had found his conversation boring and so I ignored him to scan the area around us.”

“This was not really the time to be ignoring your partner. You and Agent McGee had been assigned as backup to an agent that was going door to door trying to find a possible murderer that was working with a terrorist cell.”

“Well if Tony had not been so inept at his job and had not wandered off to see some floozy during a murder case we would not be here. I have put up with a lot ever since being assigned to here as a liaison five years ago. He is always playing games and never does his work while talking about his conquests every minute. If anyone should be investigated, it should be him and not I.”

“While your opinion of your SFA is enlightening, that is not what we wish to discuss. You see this file here,” Sheloke tapped at a thick cream colored floor in front of him. “States that the events of the undercover operation are different from what you have stated during the course of our interviews.”

Ziva shook her head, “That is not possible. I explained that I tuned Agent DiNozzo out and was not paying attention to his conversations.”

Sheloke slide the transcript across the table, why don’t you go ahead and read page 6.”

Ziva didn’t open the papers, she only stared at them intensely, “Is this necessary?”

“yes, it is. Open the transcript to page 6, now.”

Ziva opened the file in front of her with an air of exasperation around her. Though once her eyes started to comprehend what she was seeing there was nothing obvious to show her apprehension. However her eyes starting to gleam in concern for herself. All the derogatory and demeaning words just threw themselves off the page at her.

“Excuse me,” her voice was stilted, “How did you get copies of a private conversation, you had no legal right to use these words against me.”

“thats not entirely true,” Sheloke smirked, “you see you said this in an agency car that was wired to record all sounds including you and Mr. McGee. This is legally obtained and is completely miscible in court so be very careful of what you say now.”

Ziva wanted to slam the file shut however she restrained herself, “Okay, so what? I am entitled to my opinion. I just stated that opinion out loud, this is not a crime. I do not have to like the people i work with.”

“true, as long as you can do your job then you are not required to like your co-workers. However, this is completely different. go ahead and turn to page 9.”

Ziva sighed with agitation, “is this really necessary? I do not need this hand holding. I am an adult and am able to handle anything you think you have.”

Agent Cabut’s voice turned growly as she leaned in menacingly. “you capability of doing you job is what we are questioning, not the way you handle information. the structure of this interview is up to us and is none of your concern. Is that clear?”

“Doing my job! I do my job well. I was brought in by the previous director and was kept on by the current one. There has never been any question about my capability in the field. If that is not a ringing endorsement for my suitability at handling my job then nothing is.”

Sheloke shrugged his shoulders. “that was then this is now and we are questioning your capability in the field as backup for your fellow agents. Now read the section that we have pointed out.”

Ziva angrily turned the page and read the page over and over again. She cursed in her head, there wasn’t a good way to explain this away.

“i see that you’ve finally gotten to the damning piece of evidence.” Cabut leaned back in her chair as she stared at Ziva hard and unrelentingly “You think we should turn the radio back on.”

“You see, Ms. David,” Sheloke picked at his finger nails as though he had no care in the world right then, “You didn’t turn him out, you intentionally turn him off. this is not proper backup. this is not how you do your job on an undercover mission. You lied. Do you have anything to say now?“

Ziva sat as frigid as ice, she refused to show any emotions in front of these people she had been trained better than that however, she was trying to think of something, anything, to get out of this without serious consequences. Gibbs thought of her as a daughter and Tony always forgave them when they did stuff like this. It would be fine. Nobody would get rid of her. “it was just a joke.” her voice was solid and clearly heard in the silent room, “He plays jokes and tricks on us all the time, why couldn’t we do the same thing? Besides his conversations were annoying and his voice turned scratchy after a while and it wasn’t pleasant to listen to.”

Agent Sheloke opened a second file, “your right, Agent DiNozzo plays practical pranks all the time. However not once has he ever been written up for playing a prank out in the field. Has his pranks ever endangered you life? were you ever unsafe or without backup? Has anyone, even the “incompetent and jokester” DiNozzo, sent you into a dangerous situation without being prepared/”

These questions bring forth a slight flush to Ziva’s darker complexion. “No, No, he hasn’t. This got out of hand, I will admit, and i lost track of time. But there wasn’t any sound in the neighborhood and the coms will undoubtedly prove that nothing happened. Agent DiNozzo wandered off and didn’t respond when we called out for him.

“Ms. David you might want to turn back to page 5 and read the interaction that you missed during your time of silence.”

Ziva did as they mentioned, but the longer she read the page the more it didn’t make sense. DiNozzo was fine, he had to be. However, from what she read he wasn’t without some bruises and a little blood split.

Ziva needed to try and get out of this at least one more time, “turning the radio off was McGee’s idea anyway. I tried to stop him though he believes himself to be infallible and smarter than all those around him. “

Agent Cabut sighed, “what part of recording everything is lost on you?”

Ziva was outraged she sat straighter trying to look down on the agents across from her. “I understand completely thank you very much. there is no reason or need to talk down to me as though i am incompetent and can not make sound decisions.”

Sheloke only stared at him, “Yes, Ms. David, you can make decisions in fact if you turn to page 10 you will see that you made a decision. a decision to not call your senior agent and tell him that his SFA wasn’t in contact. You made a decision to turn that radio off and actually reaching for that dial that killed the communication between you and your partner walking the street. You can make decisions. I am just not sure that you are correct about a sound decision. is there anything else you would like to say Ms. David?”

“No.” Ziva shook her head, “It was just a joke. I am sure Tony will understand that when this is all over.” Ziva looked at the two agents, “I’ll apologize.”

“Is that supposed to fix this?”

“It will take time I’m sure. But there was no harm intended. Where is Tony, anyway? I imagine that he is waiting around to use this as a source for having McGee and I do menial tasks from now on.”

the two agents could only look at Ziva as she spoke. The word that had spewed from her mouth were unfathomable. She truly thought that simply saying she was sorry would fix this mess. They stood and walked to the exit before closing the door after them Sheloke turned to the former agent, “if you must know, Agent Dinozzo is at Bethesda hospital fighting for his life from 27 stabs words and severe blood loss along with other major injuries.”

The information seemed to make the impact that they wanted, “that Ms. David is what happens to your partner when you don’t have their six. You will be charged and read your rights to you shortly. I would start thinking about which lawyer you will be calling.”

Neither IA agent could believe the turn out of their investigation. They each shook their heads before heading to their office and writing it all up to send out to all those that would require a copy, including the FBI.

It had been another boring day in the office for Fornell, it wished that he had a reason to go over to the Navy Yard and poke fun at either Gibbs or DiNozzo. But that just didn’t seem to be in the cards for him today. He sighed as he pulled another folder to the forefront and to review however when he saw the header he sat up straighter. This was an IA investigation report from NCIS. why was this on his desk? Fornell had always been a noisy bastard, why else did he go into investigation, it certainly wasn’t for the pay. though the further he got through the file the angrier he got. He never thought that this would have to the premier MCRT team. He jumped up from his seat, grabbed his coat and the file before heading over the Naval Yard to speak with Vance. An assault on a federal agent was his jurisdiction and this mess involved his “friend’s” team. No way in hell he was letting anyone else handle this.

He could barely believe the sheer arrogance and snide remarks that each of them made about DiNozzo. Yeah he gave him a hard time, but that didn’t mean that the man wasn’t good at his job and didn’t deserve the position he was in. DiNozzo worked with GIbbs and Gibbs alone for two years before Todd was assigned to them. That took skills that not many people have, certainly not these two. They wouldn’t have lasted two hours with Gibbs alone let alone two years.

Did they truly believe that he threatened Jethro with stealing DiNozzo only to irritate the man? Hell, the FBI wasn’t even the first government agency hoping to steal him from under GIbbs. Even teams within NCIS tried to get DiNozzo on their teams. More than just one person called DiNozzo Gibb’s loyal st. bernard, no one had even tempted him to think about leaving Gibb’s team.

Honestly after the report that he had read, McGee and David would be lucky to walk out of the building with their head still attached to their shoulders. Though thinking about it, will DiNozzo be able to work in this building again. Let’s face it, he is faced with a huge betrayal. the people he thought of as friends failed him. But if anything, Fornell would make sure that this was not swept under the rug. No matter what he had to do, this would be taken care of properly. Once he talked through things with Director Vance, Fornell would have to make a trip to the hospital to see how Gibbs is holding up. That man was a possessive bastard. the only one allowed to mess with his team was him, and not even the other members could get away with it. This was something that would mess with the marine. His first rule was to never screw over your partner and now his two underlings broke the first and most important rule.

It took an hour or two but he was finally walking out of the elevator looking for the room that the nurse had given him just a few moments ago. He was finally able to find a somewhat familiar face, “Dr. Mallard.”

“Agent Fornell. come to see our boy?”

“Yeah, the IA report came across my desk. I just now got away from talking with the DIrector and the head of JAG they are prosecuting instead of letting the civilian courts handle it.”

“Well at least they will not get away with it.” Dr. Mallard look to his left, following his line of sight Fornell was stunned by the sight in front of him. DiNozzo looked like death warmed over. he had wires going every which way, he was intubated and hooked up to an EKG machine along with a huge brace that prompt him up slightly.

“Fucking hell,” Fornell said under his breath barely believing that this was the same man that he knew. “How is he, Dr. Mallard?”

Ducky had a hopeless grin on his face, as though if he didn’t smile he would cry. “Not that good. However they are hopeful. It will be a long road but this is Anthony. He won’t let this hold him back.”

“Well yeah, but this…” Fornell didn’t even know the full extent and it was already mind boggling that DiNozzo had survived. Fornell sighed in disbelief and caught Jethro’s eye. He watched as Gibbs took a single look at his teammate to make sure he hadn’t woken up before stepping out of the room. He stood there stoically, “Tobias.”

“Jethro, how are you doing?”

Gibbs glared at him a little bit, “I’m pissed. My SFA is laying in the bed still fighting for his life after almost eight hours of surgery, I’m told that he is more than likely paralyzed and I still haven’t figured out a way to explain to a little four year old girl that her daddy will never be able to run around with her.”

“Little girl?”

Gibbs truly was off his game if he revealed that secret after so long. He simply sighed and pinched his nose, “I’m only explaining this once...well Abs might demand an explanation but thats not important now. Tony unknowing had an affair a couple years ago…”

“How do you not know if your having an affair?” Tobias was a little touchy about cheaters.

“She didn’t wear a ring and didn’t turn down his advances either so he thought she was single now don’t interrupt me, Fornell. Anyway he got a call and turned out he got her pregnant. She didn’t want the kid and was only giving DiNozzo one day to decide before she put the baby up for adoption. DiNozzo took her.”

Ducky frowned thoughtfully, “Why did he ever tell us?”

“I don’t know Duck. That’s a question for DiNozzo when he wakes up.”

Fornell sighed, “so you aren’t doing too good.”

Gibbs just glared at him.

“IA has finished the investigation and they were arrested earlier today, but the FBI is taking over the civilian factor in arresting who physically attacked DiNozzo.”

Gibbs lifted a brow at the correct name, Fornell huffed, “It isn’t the time or place to be screwing with the kid.”

“Whatever, just keep me in the loop this involves my team.”

Fornell snorted, as if he was actually able to keep Gibbs from finding anything out. “Just make sure that kid isn’t on his own.”

“No shit, Fornell. Ducky’s already spoken with Abby and Palmer and they’ve said something about a rotation to make sure Dinozzo isn’t alone.”

it wasn’t long before Fornell had to head off again, Gibbs and Ducky walked back into DiNozzo’s room and set down to wait for Tony to wake up or for his Doctor to come in and explain his medical jargon to Ducky who would then explain to Gibbs in an understanding way. It was looking to be a long wait for them.

Some time had passed when Gibbs next opened his eyes, he hadn’t meant to sleep but there was only so much he could do with what little he knew. he looked down at his watch and wondered if the two former agents had been read their rights and taken into custody yet. Looking at Tony who apparently hadn’t moved, Gibbs thought that he would need to get a record of the investigation and voice recordings just to see what happened. He looked around for Ducky but he wasn’t there but Gibbs just shrugged his shoulders thinking that Ducky had either been called back to NCIS or had gone to get coffee. he looked up as the door opened, but it was only Dr. Pitt.

“hello, Agent Gibbs, how is our patient doing today?” He approached the opposite bedside and began making notes as he looked over the machines. Gibbs didn’t say anything as he watched the doctor check his agent. He was looking for any sign that things were doing better for his agent. That Tony would once again beat the odds.

Brad turned to the older agent, and knowing how he felt about the winded and long doctor explanations, Brad tried to keep everything simple. “He’s doing a lot better than we expected at this stage. Blood pressure is good his heart rate is strong and the incisions are clean and are healing nicely. His lungs are clear and sounding strong, I might be able to sign off on removing the breathing tube by tomorrow morning. This Buckeye isn’t going anywhere yet.”

Gibbs was relieved to hear that. he had told kate once that he had never lost an agent undercover and that time he didn’t lose Tony and this time he didn’t think he’d lose Tony. But Brad wasn’t finished, “I want to start reducing the sedative and let him start waking up slowly. With Tony’s medical history I want to get him up and moving as soon as possible instead of keeping him under longer like I’d do for most patients. With anesthetize from surgery and keeping him sedated puts his organs under stress and with his scarred lungs it would be better if we get those out of his system.”

“So it’s not too soon?” Gibbs would deny it to his dying days that he was worried about rushing his agent.

“Each person is differently, looking over tony’s history he actually has better chance if we wake him up instead of keeping him under. I know it seems early but if we want to remove the tube and have him breathing on his own we need to bring his body temperature back up and relieve some of the pressure that his lungs are under to work at the moment. With you and the others being there for him, i’m sure that Tony will pull through just fine.”

Brad laughed a little when he saw the look on Gibbs face, “Agent Gibbs, you got him to live through the plague. Just me he was barely hanging on when you came in and demanded him to live. You and the others will pull him out of that. this won’t be easy, I’m not trying to kid anybody here, but I do know that not one of you will let tony stop. Especially that Abby of yours, she will probably be leading the charge to drag Tony along if you let her.”

That thought caused Gibbs to smile a little. there wasn’t a force on this plant that would stop Abby Sciuto if she wanted something that was true.

Speaking of Abby, she was staring at a blank computer screen with a lost look. She really wasn’t sure what to do now. What was she supposed to believe in now? how does she make this better? that’s what she did, this was her family and she did whatever she needed to do for family. She jumped when someone placed a hand on her shoulder, raising her green eyes to meet the slightly worried hazel eyes of Jimmy Palmer tears started streaming down her face. She didn’t hesitate to throw her arms around his neck and hug him tightly. everything that she was holding back as she went through the evidence to help Tony and Balboa came crashing down on her at once. Each sob that Abby released an an emotion that she poured out like rain. All the misery, fear, concern, the hurt and betrayal just erupted from her as she clung to Jimmy. All Palmer did was wrap his arms around her and held her tightly as Abby just let everything go.

Standing there together, Jimmy and Abby ignored the time just letting everything go. Abby finally calmed down though there was still a strain in her voice was she started talking. “I know exactly what happened. I listened to and went over those tapes with a fine tooth comb just hoping for something to change. I examined Tony’s clothes and communication devices. I did everything by the book and ran every test I could think of to explain whatever this was. But when i heard those interrogations and everything they said…”

Abby backed up to look Jimmy in the eye. “They kept saying that it was all a joke. that they didn’t want him to get hurt. But they were so smug and only worried about themselves. How did we ever think they were family. these were people we cared about? how could they do that? Tony was the one that showed them the ropes, that helped them figure out their footing here at NCIS. He never deserved this.”

Jimmy just listened and didn’t try to offer any platitudes to Abby. But when she stopped and seemed to want him to say, “I don’t have any words to fix this Abby, i don’t know if there is any reason that would every explain what they did. But they made a choice and they will have to live with that. Doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t change anything about what you feel or the way we feel. All we can do is be there for Tony and show him that we still care.”

Jimmy put his hands on Abby’s shoulders and pushed her back slightly so that they were staring each other in the eyes, “We will all get through this, it might not feel like it at the moment, but we will. Ranting, venting, falling apart all these things will happen, but don’t try and get through this on your own okay Abby. You aren’t alone. And neither is Tony. we will all be there for him and we will all be there for you.”

Abby sniffled some more but there was a grateful smile on her smile, “thanks Jimmy. i needed that.” Abby grabbed some tissues and dapped at her cheeks to try and salvage her makeup as best she could. “I think I need to go over to the hospital to see Tony. This whole mess just makes me want to get over there.”

“Don’t worry Abby,” Jimmy smiled as he watched his friend, “I’ll always have your six.”

They made their way to their cars to head to the hospital now that all active cases were closed for the work day. It was time to be there for their friend.

Though while this betrayal may have left them in tears, no one was sure how Abby was going to take Tony’s betrayal. He never did tell her that he had a daughter, who was also on the way to the hospital with her nanny.

When they arrived Abby made a mad dash to the nurses station to get the room number while Jimmy was slower in his rush and even gave them an apology for Abby’s brisk nature. Though when another woman and child came in asking for the same man, the nurses just couldn’t stop themselves from gossiping for a few minutes before continuing to make their rounds. Though, maybe a few nurses that had heard how handsome he was pulled up his file to see his marital status. But they didn’t dally long before making sure that their patients were comfortable and weren’t having any further problems.

When Maria and LA got to the correct floor they were stunned by how many people were gathered outside of Tony’s room. Though one man stood out as familiar and LA ran to him,

“Granpa Gibbs.” LA threw her arms around Gibbs knees, “is my papa okay? did this happen because i asked why i didn’t have a mama? I don’t want one if it means that papa gets hurt.”

Gibbs didn’t stop to think before lifting LA up into his arms. The little girl was facing something no child should have to. Her father was fighting for his life, she didn’t fully understand anything other than her papa was hurt. It was scary for her.

Gibbs made sure to stare into those green eyes that were copies of her father’s. “You listen to me Lily Alaine, what happened to your father is in no way your fault. You understand me. You are the reason that your father fought as hard as he did to survive. Okay, he didn’t want to leave you and made sure that he didn’t.”

All those standing around the two smiled at the gentle nature that Gibbs just seemed to have with children, even if it was a little forceful but that just showed how serious he was.

LA nodded her head before leaning her head on Gibbs’ shoulder. She just wanted to know her daddy would be okay.

Abby wanted to squeal at the cuteness before her. She smiled for what felt like the first time in forever, “And who are you sweetheart?”

LA looked at the woman that looked like her Zia Abby, she tilted her head in greeting before smiling brightly, “My name’s Lily Aliane DiNozzo, but papa only calls me that when i get in trouble which isn’t often. Papa usually calls me LA, you look like my Zia Abby. Papa says that she’s the happiest person to wear black. Is that true? He also says Zia Abby is scary smart and when I meet her I should learn how to deal with boys because they are icky and she can teach me how to keep them away. Can you really? it wouldn’t affect Nonno Gibbs and Papa will it? if it does can you teach me how to keep the nice boys around and only get rid of the icky ones?”

LA sure had her father’s motor mouth. The rapid speech just reminded everyone of Tony so much that they all chuckled good naturedly and smiled at the little girl. Abby couldn’t stop herself from taking LA away from Gibbs, “I am totally your aunt Abby and I can not wait to teach you all I know. Your papa is one of my best friends. though I don’t know why he kept you from me for so long.”

“papa was trying to make sure that no one scary or bad would know about me. He said the best way to keep a secret is to only tell yourself and if someone needs to know then make sure that you have absolute faith in them, that’s why he told Nonno because he is really good at keeping secrets secret.”

Abby thought about it for a second and realized that Tony had been in law enforcement for so long that people that he had arrest and seen convicted would be approaching parole trials and they might get revenge by attacking this little cutie, it did make sense so she couldn’t stay too mad but she would still tease him a bit before letting him off the hook. “You know what LA, your papa is probably right, but now that we know we can help him protect you.”

Maria stepped forward, “hello my name is Maria. I’m Lily’s nanny. I have many good things about all of you from Anthony. I know that he will truly appreciate everything you have all done for him throughout this whole thing.”

“We’re family, we just added the two of you to it. You do what you have to for family.” Abby said as though it truly was that simple, Jimmy and Ducky grinned slightly since that was one of Gibbs unspoken rule.

“When can i see my papa, Zia Abby?”

Abby quickly tried to figure what to say “Your papa is sleeping right now sweetheart, as well as a lot of pain so maybe tomorrow darling.”

“But, how will papa know i’m here for him if I can’t see him?” LA was worried, papa always made sure to be by her side when she wasn’t feeling well.

“Oh sweetie,” Abby cried hugging LA closer, “You just send him good vibes and prayers. That’s what i do and he always knows that you’re there for him. there is absolutely no way that he doesn’t know you’re here for him.”

“Okay, but i’ll get to see him tomorrow?”

“Actually little lady,” a new voice interrupted them, “it appears as though you were who your daddy was waiting for. He is starting to show signs of waking up now.”

Everyone was stunned, looking at the doctor like he was crazy. It had barely been twenty four hours since Tony was admitted. Brad laughed at them all, “not lying here, we’ve just reduced his medication and his fingers started twitching. he will most likely to wake up by tomorrow night at the latest.”

“So my papa’s alright Mr. doctor man?” LA asked cutely.

Brad smiled at the little girl that he could tell was DiNozzo’s right away, “your daddy is going to be alright, especially with a pretty little lady waiting for him like you.”

“Will he be able to play with me?”

Brad could see that the others weren’t sure how to tell the four year old that her father was paraplegic, he stared her in the eyes and tried to explain as simple as possible. “He won’t be able to play for some time and even when he is completely better there was an issue that is going to cause problems.”

“What kind of problems, Mr. Doctor man?”

“Have you ever hurt your back and it causes your legs to hurt really really bad?”

“Once,” LA admitted, “papa was really worried and took me to my kiddie doctor. There was a lot of test and they said it was to make sure that my legs still worked properly.”

Brad nodded, “Your daddy has a really bad injury to his back and its affecting his legs. We can’t say for sure if it will get better.”

LA hung in Abby’s arms quietly for a minute, “So daddy might not be able to move his legs anymore?”

“You are so smart that you can figure that out on your own. But yes, your papa might not be able to move his legs anymore and will need to be in a wheelchair.”

“Oh,” LA said suddenly brightening, “My friend, Amy, is in a wheelchair. But she has a baby issue.”

“A baby issue?” Jimmy was confused. “A birth defect?”

LA beamed at him, “Yeah that. So Daddy will be fine he just can’t walk anymore. he can stay with me.”

The group couldn’t stop themselves from smiling at the positive attitude.

The good mood surrounding the group in the hospital was not shared by Ziva or McGee. They each sat in their holding cells, unable to believe what was happening to them. Ziva sat like a statue on her threadbare mattress; legs at a ninety degree angle at the bend of her knee, back straight and hands resting on each respective knee, her face was harsh and unreadable. She had spent some time looking around her room and taking inventory of each little detail, yet now she was only staring straight ahead of her trying to understand what exactly happened within the last twenty-eight hours. It was simply a joke, nothing bad was supposed to happen. Why was she being punished for Tony’s failure as an agent?

They had even used that cliché tactic of allowing her a single phone call. Of course the only person she needed to talk to was her father. She was his only living child now, she had spied for him, and now he would argue and get her extradited back to Israel. However when she tried to explain what was happening, her father argued back. That had never happened before, she might have been his soldier but he never treated her like so before. Now he was saying that she was on her own and that Mossad would have nothing to do with her. As if he would actually leave her without any support in this problem. He had to simply be teaching her something, he had always been teaching her lessons like this ever since she was a small child. She scowled briefly, there was simply no way that her father would side with those people that held her and McGee responsible for this silly issue. Besides, she didn’t do anything to any of the evidence. McGee was the one that messed with the transmitters and his prints would be the ones found in the vehicle. Yes, she would try to pin all of this on McGee there wasn’t anything pinning her to the so called crime other than her verbal records. Honestly she should never have allowed McGee to take any type of authority when they worked to establish their alibi. He was so green and knew nothing about establishing alibis.

Though maybe if her father would fail to get her out of this mess, she should try and contact Gibbs to remind him that he owed her. She had killer her own brother, might not have been for him, but he didn’t need to know that. Gibbs valued family above all else and appeared to have replaced his deceased daughter with her. She needed to get out of this mess, honestly it was McGee’s fault anyway.

Though while Ziva called on her Mossad training, McGee was being a worrywart and pacing his cell. He couldn’t seemed to settle or calm down. His hair was no longer fashionable styled but sticking every which way from running his hands through it continuously. McGee knew that he looked like an idiot and honestly he had tried to sit and relax making sure that anyone knew he was calm and collected not worried about a thing. But he simply had to get out of this situation. He was smart, he knew it, his coworkers knew it, hell his mailman knew it. He had plenty of diplomas and degrees to prove and attest to his intelligence. All of that mental power should mean that he could get himself out of this situation.

Honestly Tony was taking the whole thing too far. It was a joke, nothing else, Tony played jokes all the damn time and never anything like this happened. Tony never should have been given any type of power, he was the type of man to hold it over other people’s heads. There was no way that he was truly as badly hurt as the charges indicated. That stupid investigator must have simply been bullshitting him and Ziva. McGee had to think of something to get him out of this mess, he wouldn’t survive going to prison. He simply couldn’t handle that.

Stop! McGee thought to himself, You’ll be fine. Tony will drop those charges when he learns about what’s going on. He can take a joke. McGee knew that he needed to give up on his defeatist thoughts and behavior and think of a way that he could play this whole thing off of Ziva. Unlike his former teammate, he knew that Director David was not going to rescue her. She always had thought too highly of herself. He knew that he needed to get some sleep. His brain had been in over drive for longer than usual and so he wasn’t thinking at his highest capacity. He should see about getting in touch with Abby, she would surely help him. Abby knew him, knew that he would never mean for anyone to get hurt. He could play her and Ziva off of each other, Abby never did let go of her grudge against Ziva for replacing Kate.

With the fact that he finally had a plan, McGee set back on the bunk and thumbed the scratchy blanket underneath him. It sent a sensation of chills down his back at the very feeling. Even before he made a lot of money he never had anything other than the softest blankets to sleep with. He had become a custom to have certain luxuries and with the thought of prison on the horizon, he knew that he would never survive. He was a brainiac not a brawler, he would never be able to endure the harsh reality that is prison. There simply had to be a way to survive the hell that was waiting for him.

The sun shined through two different windows the next morning. The barred portal scattered the light across both Ziva and McGee’s faces while the rays gently luminated the hospital room that saw multiple occupants sprawled about waiting for the patient to wake up. The only one that was awake before the sun was Gibbs, he had already been out to grab a coffee and was back waiting for everyone else to wake up as well. The next to rise was Ducky, which was a good thing as Gibbs had finally decided that he needed to confront the other two people that was involved in this mess. He explained – as much as Gibbs every does – to Ducky what he was planning and that he would be back as soon as possible to since LA only knew him and her nanny. DC, Northern Virginia traffic was terrible on a good day. Gibbs sat behind the wheel deciding that today was not going to be a good day as what little patience he had was waning and fleeing fast. And that was before dealing with those two dumbasses he had called underlings as one point of time.

When he finally arrived at the prison where Ziva and McGee were being held he stood behind a viewing glass for several minutes trying to collect what thoughts he had on the matter while watching McGee sigh and fidget in his seat. He was still handcuffed in place and had obviously just been seen to by his attorney as there were fresh scuff marks on the floor from the opposite chair moving back and forth a few times.

Tim sat there looking around the bare room wondering why he was still in there. He had already been interrogated back at NCIS, his lawyer had just left after telling him that prison time was almost inevitable though a few of the charges had been reduced but not dropped. He couldn’t believe just how much money he was paying for someone to tell him that he was going to end up in prison for at least two years if not more, but certainly not less. It wasn’t like he had been the one to attack Tony, they had no right to had malicious/murderess intent as a charge when he never attacked any one much less with malicious intent. He didn’t even play that joke with bad intent. He just wanted some peace and quiet. Sitting there stewing in his own thoughts McGee never noticed when the door was opened revealing his boss.

Looking up, McGee could barely make eye contact for a few second. That icy cold stare was just too much for him. There was no warm or steely resolve that McGee would usually see in Gibbs’ eyes, Gibbs was looking at him like he was the lowest scum on the planet and his stare certainly made him feel that way. It took all his concentration just to breath properly. Gibbs’ entire being was filled with cold, hard fury as it filled the air around them. This simmering rage was making it hard for him to breath much less find his voice to make any noise. There was nothing that he could say or do that would lessen the pressure in the room. He could only hope that the wardens here took their job seriously and protected him against the fury.

Before long Gibbs finally broke the silence, “Just what the hell were you thinking?” his voice was low, husky, dark, deadly, and most eerily calm. There was no anger in sight though it was understood.

McGee couldn’t stop himself from shivering as the words rushed over him like an ice cold shower. ‘’It was just a prank, a joke boss. No one was meant to get hurt.”

Gibbs set his hands on the table separating them and leaned forward slightly, “Do not call me boss.” His voice was no longer calm, but growly, “You lost that right when you abandoned our team.”

“I never abandoned the team. Why does Tony get to play ---”

“Stop!” Gibbs smacked the table and took a deep ragged breath as the rage pulsed through his body. He wouldn’t stand for the degradation of anyone of his team members. While Tony’s nicknames were childish and sometimes rude, they were in no way demeaning or down right mean. “this was in now way, shape, or form a joke. Jokes do NOT end with someone fighting for their lives and becomes a paraplegic. They don’t start with asinine excuses such as you never meant for this to happen. Here’s one for ya, the purpose of backup was to avoid situations like this.” While furious with the man, Gibbs’s voice was sharp and controlled though his eyes said more than his voice ever cold.

McGee gulped, his mouth suddenly dry.

“Do you understand that I am trying not to kill you? I have never known a man so cowardly. No marine, no combat enemy, no one I have ever known has been as cowardly as you.” He narrowed his eyes, “There is nothing redeeming about you. You use to be a young man that want to grow and become a better agent. Now you are simply a greedy man that is trying to climb a ladder to better your career. You sold your soul to the devil.” Gibbs sneered at the fact that McGee couldn’t even meet his eyes. “Confidence is one thing, however arrogance has no place in the work place and you walked a fine line before falling over. You decided that another person’s life was less valuable to you, you failed to see what was in front of you because you are selfish. You only cared about your needs, your ambitions and your own importance.”

It seemed that McGee finally found his spine because his head jerked upward and glared weakly at his former boss, “So what? I was supposed to keep my mouth shut and toe the line when DiNozzo can’t cut it?” He sneered, “I am a better agent and any time I should have gotten the lead or been cast as the undercover agent Tony would always butt in and keep me from showing my skills.”

Gibbs snorted, “You think that you’re better than Tony. We were a two man team for two years before Cate was hired by NCIS. He did the technology leg work and our solve rate is the same and sometimes better than it is now. YOU added nothing to this team.”

Gibbs slammed his hands on the table, “You fail to see that. You believe that the letters on your diplomas or how many you have is the superior factor. Well guess what McGee,” Gibbs voice was filled with rage and each word stabbed Tim in the heart. He thought that he was more important to Gibbs than that. “ He would never and has never placed you in danger. Especially not without backup or proper coverage. He’s always placed himself in danger for this team, remember when he told you and Cate to get out of the area when he noticed that car bomb, how about the fact that you didn’t even notice the car bomb that YOU activated. He had just returned from fighting the pneumonic plague.”

Gibbs was silent for a few moments, then he stood up and walked to the door, “You have no one Tim. No one watching your six. No one is looking out for you now.”

McGee snorted, “I have my friends and family.”

Gibbs looked back as he headed out the door, “Really? Where are your friends? Where is your sister, father, or mother? Want to try again? No one has cared to visit you or write to you. You have no one.”

Time closed his eyes, his voice was filled with desperation and it seemed like he was trying to convince himself just as much as Gibbs, “There hasn’t been any time for visits.”

Gibbs smiled, though it wasn’t gentle, it was a dangerous smile. “Really? Because I saw Sarah at the hospital when I left. She was there to visit Tony.”

McGee shook his head vigorously, “No, that’s….she…I mean why…..”

“I don’t know but my advise is to pray.”

“Pray? What for?”

“That I never get a hold of you.” With that Gibbs left the interrogation room and stood in the hallway for several minutes to catch his breath and try to understand what happened. Though nothing that Tim said would ever excuse what they did. He turned to the guard and told them to take him to the interrogation room where Ziva was waiting.

He quickly glanced at Ziva from the viewing window before he entered. She was ramrod straight, hands cuffed just like McGee. While her face was carefully blanked, Gibbs could tell that she was pleased by something. He wondered what she would say to try and exonerate herself from this whole mess. He could only image how she would try and spin this into her favor. What Gibbs didn’t know was that Ziva was having self-righteous thoughts about how Gibbs should have been there for her instead of with Tony. That Tony must have been whining and exaggerating his injuries. She thought of how immature and dramatic Tony was and how unprofessional he was. She hadn’t been able to get in contact with her father when she was allowed to access to the phone to talk to her lawyer. It appeared as though her father wanted her to suffer a little longer before he rescued her.

Though now Gibbs had agreed to talk to her and that meant she would be able to use her trump card and she just needed to get out of this godforsaken country. Finally the door opened and Ziva looked over to see that Gibbs was standing in the doorway.

“Gibbs,” she nodded her head in greeting what for something. For a while there was nothing but silence between the two of them as they sat in the room. “You have nothing to say!? Have you already established your opinion? Am I not going to be allowed to defend myself against these allegations?” Ziva demanded to know. Looking into Gibbs’ eyes she couldn’t see any of the affection that was previously there. Now it was only darkness and rage swirling around in them, the sheer force and intensity of those emotions were directed solely at her and she seemed to have lost her footing for a moment.

She sneered, “So you’ve sided with the others. I had always believed that you were above that clearly I was wrong. You are just as bias as those people.”

Gibbs lifted a single eyebrow and didn’t seem like he was going to say anything for a moment, “I am sitting here silently, how is that bias?” his voice was steely and without emotions.

“You are not willing to hear my side and remember what we have shared.”

“I heard the interrogations, I have heard your side and don’t wish to hear anymore. There is nothing that you can say now that will change my mind on what I know you have done.”

Ziva sneered at him, “So what? I am to blame for DiNozzo getting hurt?! It wasn’t like we expected that. If he had ---”

“Don’t give me that shit.” Gibbs didn’t raise his voice, though the aura around him was danger and killing intent. “Tony is fighting for his life and you are to blame. You and McGee. If the two of you had done your job, he wouldn’t be in the hospital hooked up to machines making sure that his organs do not fail. Would he have still been in this mess if you two had simply been listening? He might have a black eye and split lip but not multiple stab wounds and bruised organs. He was left to die in the woods. You failed at your job. You believed that he was beneath you. You left your partner on their own and now you are on your own.” Gibbs slammed his hands on the table. “You are delusional about your self-importance Miss David.”

“Miss David? Is that how it is?”

“Yes,” Gibbs said, “You see, I understand exactly what happened that night you saved me. Why would someone how believes their brother to be innocent so ready to kill them? It wasn’t until that whole Rivkin debacle that I was sure of my suspicions. It was on your father’s orders wasn’t it. You were supposed to gain my trust by killing your brother, it was for that simple reason. Nothing else. We have nothing now.”

“So what, I have shown you greater loyalty and skills than Tony. He is simply a gnat and an irritant that needs to be sent back to those damned ships and let this team continue.”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes, “He took your father on and won, he is a superior agent and has proven it. You simply refuse to see what is right in front of you. Instead of learning from your senior investigator you believed that you already knew everything. Your superiority complex will be your downfall.”

Ziva barely heard anything he said after he admitted to knowing that she killed Ari on her father’s orders. Her trump card was gone, she had nothing to hold over Gibbs. It seemed like her world was unravelling around her. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice as Gibbs stood up and left.

While Gibbs was dealing with his two previous subordinates, the group of friends waiting outside of Tony’s room were starting to fidget as the doctors and nurses were taking notes of Tony’s vitals and all of the needed information. The nurses each smiled as they left and made comments about how well Tony was doing. Finally Dr. Pitt came out, “I think our patient would like to see his little girl.”

LA gasped, “papa’s awake.”

Dr. Pitt smiled, “he’s groggy but coherent.”

LA started begging for Maria to let her down but Maria knew that LA would run off if she did and so she just started walking forward to enter Tony’s hospital room. There he was sitting up with the assistance of the motorized bed, his head was thrown to the left and his eyes were barely opened but the minute he heard someone enter his room, he turned to see which doctor it was now. Instead a smile broke out across his face, “LA, baby.”

LA started crying when she saw her daddy, “PAPA!” she started pulling on Maria to put her down again. Instead Maria carefully laid her down beside her father, Tony immediately threw his opposite arm over her. He pulled LA close to his body and curled as much as possible around her. “I got you baby.” Everyone around them smiled as the father and daughter reunited.

Now that Tony was awake, his friends finally decided that they needed to get back to work. Crimes didn’t stop merely because they did. Eventually it was only Gibbs, Maria and LA, though at the moment it was only Gibbs and Tony as Maria had taken LA down to the cafeteria for something to eat. Tony was staring down at his legs. He had been informed early that morning that he was paraplegic. It was something that was screaming in his head. He would never be a cop again, he wouldn’t be able to return to NCIS, he wouldn’t be able to run with his daughter. What had his life come to. He only wanted to be a good agent and a good father. How was he going to do that trapped in a wheelchair.

Tony was stunned when he felt a pressure on the back of his head. He had just gotten head slapped. “Boss?”

Gibbs scowled at him and was gruff, “Don’t go there. You will survive this. Don’t let something like this destroy everything you have worked for ‘til now. Ya hear me.”

Tony could only stare for a few minutes, he honestly wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. He knew that if he didn’t have LA he would probably do something caustic. “Boss, I can’t work. I can’t play with my daughter. I’m an independent person and now, now I will always be dependent on someone in some capacity. How am I suppose to help my daughter if I need help myself?”

Gibbs scowled and was willing to go back to the prisons to hurt McGee and Ziva more than just verbally. “You do what you have always done, Tony. Survive, but this time you aren’t on your own. You have us, me, Ducky, Abby, Palmer, Maria. You are here and your daughter still has her father.”

Tony smiled at the thought of LA, “I couldn’t leave her. Its in my will that her mother never gets contacted or given custody, even though she signed it away. I grew up unloved, I can’t let LA know that feeling.”

“And that right there is how you’re going to pull through. You will ensure that your daughter knows you care.”

Tony looked down at his useless legs again, soon his eyes hardened with resolve. He wouldn’t allow this to determine what he could do. Though for now he couldn’t do anything as the pain medication that they had given him was making him feel tired and sleepy even though he wanted to see his daughter some more he knew that he needed to get as much sleep as possible to get better quicker.

The next instance that he was awake, it wasn’t Gibbs in the room with him but Ducky. He looked around to see if his little angelo was there as well. He pouted when he couldn’t see his daughter anywhere. He turned to his guest when he heard him chuckle. “I believe Gibbs took her out for some ice cream since she has been so well behaved waiting for you.”

DiNozzo sighed, he realized that this was a trying time for his daughter and that any chance they could to treat her and make her happy was okay by him.

“How are you doing my dear boy?” Ducky asked.

“would you believe me if I said good and feeling like shit all at the same time?”

“Yes, though now you can move past this and start anew with your child.”

Tony sighed, “This sucks. All I ever wanted was to be a good cop and then a good father. How am I supposed to do that like this.” Ducky didn’t have an answer for him, “So, when can I blow this pop sickle stand?”

Ducky couldn’t help but laugh. No matter what was going on Tony would forever and always hate hospitals and want to leave as soon as possible. “When you doctor as decided that you can. Though I did hear that they want to start you on a physio regime to strength your upper body now that you don’t have function in your legs.”

“Great.” Tony was sarcastic and tired. He wanted to lay down with his daughter and listen to her tell him stories about all the fun she had with her nonno gibbs.

“If you don’t mind me asked, Anthony, but have you tried to reach out to your father since you have woken up?”

Tony’s eyes narrowed as they focused on the far wall. It almost seemed as though Tony was picturing his father’s face on that wall. SO much hurt and anger was associated with his dad. He knew that Senior would need to know about his physical disability now but he had been so careful to keep him unaware of LA and now this whole mess was screwing with his life even more. “A nurse left a message for him. Don’t know if or when I’ll hear back. Probably won’t unless Senior needs money.”

Tony hadn’t been conned by his father in a long time but a small part of him still wanted his father to show that he truly cared but the more support and love that he gets from his friends around him that part seems to dim and grow smaller. He knew betrayal, he had felt the harsh stings and brutal stab wounds of betrayal from his father, his mother, his old partners – work and romantic – and now he can add Ziva and McGee to that long list of betrayers. Though no matter how many times it happened the pain never seemed to diminish or become tolerable. It always hurt, but he would survive just like he did when his mother died, just like he did when Danny betrayed them, he would survive and come out stronger.

“I hope that you can forgive us my boy.” Ducky said quietly.

“Forgive what Ducky? None of you sent me and those guys on this op. I know that Gibbs would have dealt with any problems or you would have chewed him out. None of you all knew, I didn’t even know. We grow from this. We don’t let it happen again. It might have forever changed somethings, but we’ll survive this. We’ll learn from this and never let it happen again.”

Ducky couldn’t help himself from smiling at Tony who never let the pressure around him get him down. “Yes, my dear boy, we will all grow and learn from this. “

They weren’t the only that were learning from what happened. As Ziva and McGee sat in their respective cells, thinking back on what happened in Royal Woods. Neither one could believe what happened. Ziva didn’t know where it went wrong but she couldn’t believe that she had been left to fend for herself. Even her father had abandoned her. She killed Ari for Gibbs, she suffered through Tony’s childish manners, and she was passed on information to her father to keep their own secrets better and they had abandoned her.

Why? It wasn’t like she had done anything wrong. This all had to be Tony’s fault. Gibbs wouldn’t have abandoned her if it wasn’t for Tony. She was the much better agent, her skills were better than Tony’s, she was simply better than Tony so why had she been punished for simply ignoring the frat playboy. Because of him she had nothing left. She needed to get out of the States and head back to Israel. She knows that eventually she will be able to convince her father to bring her back into the fold. Once she had reestablished herself in Mossad she would get her revenge against Tony. He would pay for this humiliation.

Three weeks, Tony thought as he watched Gibbs try to show LA how to sand wood on a sample piece. Tony had only been out of the hospital for a week and a half and was still trying to get the hang of life in a chair. They had moved into Gibbs house and out of their apartment for convenience sake. Even though it wasn’t the easiest to get around Gibbs house it was still better than the apartment and LA loved being closer to her Nonno. Tony loved seeing his daughter laugh and smile, he would do anything for his daughter. Tony hadn’t told her yet, but all the homes that he was looking at was close by so that she wouldn’t have to be too far from her grandfather. Gibbs was a much better man than his own father. Speaking of his own father, Tony thought back to when Senior finally showed his face.

_Flashback_

_They were seated in the living room trying to teach LA rummy, a card game, when there was a knock on the door. All of the adults were confused by the knock, they hadn’t planned on anyone dropping by, so who could it be?_

_Maria stood up and walked towards the entrance foyer and there was a gasp of surprise before the sound of feet told them that the person had come in. Tony stunned when his father followed behind his daughter’s nanny. He was surprised by how calm he truly was by the confrontation about to occur with his father. Tony’s eyes cut towards LA and a little worried since he’d never told his father that about LA. He wouldn’t allow Senior to hurt LA the same way that he had been._

_He had no real illusions that Senior and himself will solve all the problems between them. His father was delusional and would never own up to his actions and faults for them to move forward. Senior was only controlled by greed and if there was no money to be made in repairing his relationship with his son._

_His father smiled and seemed jovial despite seeing his son in a wheelchair, “Junior!”_

_His father had barely said one word and Tony could already feel his strength and energy draining at the very presence of his father. “dad.” Tony’s voice was deadpanned, he wouldn’t allow his father to see how uncomfortable he was with his presence._

_However Senior didn’t acknowledge how uncomfortable he was making his son, “I was in the area on business and needed to borrow that lovely exotic beautiful teammate of yours, Ziva. Honesty, son why have you not made a move on her. Speaking of your team, why are you here? I went by your apartment but the locks had been changed and they said you’d moved out.”_

_Each word that left Senior’s mouth just made Tony nauseous. His father had turned up in his usual inconsiderate manner and railroading his son into do whatever he wanted by not giving him a chance to talk._

_Tony was aggravated but he tried to keep calm. He couldn’t afford to tear any of his newly healed stab scars. The stables had barely just come out and he didn’t want to scare his daughter by ripping the scar tissue open from arguing with his father. “Is that all you care about? Business and woman. I always knew that I meant jack-shit to you but I am in a wheelchair and I am not going to walk again. I got the plague several years ago and can handle breath when if I don’t do cardio al least three times a week to keep them as strong as possible. I have been in the hospital numerous times for various reasons and I have never heard a single word from one. You failed as a father and only remember your only child when he can do something for you. Not again, never again. I am not a party trick for you to show off when you please. I am not involving myself with Ziva no matter how much you wish for some preconceived notion of wealth and status.”_

_Senior’s face became grave and there was a glint of rage in Senior’s eyes. “Now Junior, you have always made a mountain out of a molehill. There is nothing wrong with you, you have just always tried to get my attention with extravagance. Besides, you should remember how much I have given you and not be so disrespectful especially in front of your boss.” Senior’s voice was mild but there was an undertone that said he was unhappy being reprimanded by his son in front of Gibbs._

_“That’s a lie and you know it,” Tony sneered completely ignoring his father’s untold threat. “You are selectively deaf; you only hear what you want to hear. Though ignoring previous problems, Ziva won’t be helping you since she was arrested and awaiting trial for multiple charges.”_

_Tony felt something in him break away as he watched his father’s eyes narrow and his eyebrows furrow, he showed more concern for an unrelated woman than his own son. “Can’t you help her? There has too be some type of mistake. You look completely fine to me.”_

_Gibbs and Maria, who had been forgotten in this confrontation, were stunned by that assessment. Looking at Tony could tell that he was far from fine. There was multiple bruising on his face and throat/neck and further disappearing under his shirt, there were bandages wrapped around several areas of his body and then there was the face that there was a thin blanket covering his legs that would no longer move. Tony was far from fine._

_Tony tensed and his eyes were cold and filled with anger at his father. “Of course I look fine to you, if I looked bad then that means that you actually give a damn about me. You haven’t cared since mom died if you ever did.”_

_“You’re right you obviously are not okay since you don’t know what you’re saying. Of course I care and love you. You are my son, Junior.”_

_Tony shook his head in a negative, denying what his father said, “I have always just been an extension for you. You are a narcissistic selfish man. I am simply another part of you. You do not care about me as long as I am there to make you seem normal and a family man to your clients. The fact that you are more concerned by Ziva is more telling than you know.”_

_Senior seemed to actually be floundering now that Tony was not allowing him to continue living in his fantasy world._

_“I’m sure that Ziva would love a visit from you since you care more for her than for me. Please leave our home.”_

_“So what….you live here now? With your boss and some woman and child? Never could manage it alone, could you Junior?” Senior sneered, refusing to stand and act as though Tony has any type of power._

_Tony only shook his head sadly, “been on my own for years since you disowned me when I was twelve. Now get out.”_

_Senior looked around at the other adults in the room, he could care less about the child. There was no help to be found from those around him, he stood from his seat and pulled on his lapels to straighten out his jacket. Tutting he rose his nose into the air, “I can see that talking is not possible since you refuse listen so it would be best that I left.”_

_Tony quirked a humorless smile, his father always had to have the last word. “I’d have listened if you had anything worth saying.”_

_Gibbs started leading Senior to the door, “By the way father, anything that you used my social serial number for has been transferred to whole new accounts under my new name so calling my Junior would be wrong.” Tony smirked at the rage that filled his fathers face as Gibbs threw the man out the door._

_LA peeked out from behind her father where she was hiding when the scary man came in, “Scary man gone?”_

_Tony smiled gently at his daughter, “Yeah the scary man is gone. He won’t bother you again sweetheart.” They resumed playing rummy forgetting about the unpleasant meeting with DiNozzo Sr. But Tony’s mind was on something else, if he was able to confront his father maybe he was ready to confront his former teammates._

_end flashback_

A few days later Tony talked with Gibbs about the revelation he came too, Gibbs saw how serious his second in command was and knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk Tony out of that. He called Fornell and explained what was going on and he set it up.

Tony was wheeling himself towards the interrogation room that they had put Ziva in Tobias and Gibbs stayed further behind to let Tony had control of the situation. “Are you so about this, Gibbs?”

Gibbs glanced at Tobias from the corner of his eyes, “If he says he’s ready we go with that. I have nothing to say.”

Ziva was spitting mad as well as curious on why she was back in the interrogation/visiting room. There was no other chair opposite her and she was cuffed to the table again. When the door opened, she was stunned by who was there.

“Surprise?” Tony was sarcastic as he wheeled himself forward and set his brakes as he stopped in front of the table looking across from Ziva.

“Tony,” Ziva knew that Tony had survived but she was honestly stunned by the look of him and the fact that he was still in a wheelchair, “Come here to gloat? Hoping for sympathy by coming in a wheelchair? You are weak.”

Tony sneered, “Am I supposed to be afraid of you?” before Ziva blew her top Tony continued on, “Don’t even start with that pissed off assassin gig because I couldn’t give a rat’s ass. You won’t be getting out of prison any time soon, you won’t even get bail due to being a flight risk. However,” Tony’s eyes narrowed. “You come near my family, my friends, or anyone that I care about I will end you.”

“You think you could take me on?” Ziva smiled and snickered at the very thought.

“I already killed your friend Rivkin. You think I couldn’t take you on. I even bested your father in interrogation.”

“Michael was drunk and impaired. You took advantage of that. You have nothing on Mossad.”

“He fought Ziva, he attacked me and lost. He underestimated me and it cost him his life. You weren’t there so don’t pretend to know what happened.”

“You don’t scare me.”

Tony didn’t stand up and storm out like Ziva expected, he didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t even slam his hands on the table in a show of force. He simply sat there and stared her dead in the eyes. “You just don’t get it, do you? You’re little dossier was wrong. You don’t know a damn thing about me or what I am capable of.” Ziva went to interrupt, “don’t bother. You had a chance to say your piece now its my turn so listen or don’t I could care less. I will say what I need to and never think about you or McGee again.”

“You thought you knew everything from that little dossier about me when you were told to take Ari out of the equation but even what little facts you put together about me weren’t enough to open your eyes to your own arrogance, blindedness, and self-centered nature. You are a bitch plain and simple and you can’t stand the fact that not everything is about you. You never could stand the sight of me because you believe me to be a childish selfish man that shouldn’t hold any position of power. That case with Rivken was just the point that you thought you’d finally be able to get Gibbs to kick me to the curb but that failed as well. You think you’re God’s gift to men and that no one would be able to resist you. Well guess what sweetheart, heartless bitches aren’t my type.” Tony would never allow a woman like Ziva near his daughter and he always knew that. Tony unlocked his brakes and began to back up to leave, “You never should have been added to the MCRT, you have no investigative skills, you lack originality and can’t read people at all. Your so-called superior skills were usually on our team.”

“Do you not care for an explanation or something?” Ziva called out to him.

Tony turned his head and grinned sardonically, “I don’t care why. I know who I am and that it wasn’t my fault this happened. Besides you’ll be in prison for the negligence of duties that allowed for the attempted murder of a federal agent and allowed a bomb and homegrown terrorist group to escape arrest longer than necessary.”

Fornell and Gibbs didn’t say anything about what they saw in the room, but only stood back and allowed Tony to pass and head towards the room with McGee in it.

Tim was stunned when he saw who was in the door, he had been expecting it to be his lawyer to talk about a possible plea deal. But instead it was Tony, Tim was glad to see him alive. Maybe Tim could convince Tony to get the others to forgive him and would now talk to him. “Tony I am glad to see you.”

Tony wheeled forward, “I find that hard to believe. Don’t bother yourself with lying, you suck at it and Abby showed me your interview tapes. There isn’t much left to say.”

Tim was startled and gulped when he heard how cold Tony’s voice was. Tony had never sounded like that before. He had always been jovial and his tone was happy but now he sounded like a completely different man. Except, Tim needed Tony on his side, “Ziva –”

Tony set back in his chair and waited for Tim to continue, he knew that Tim wanted him to interrupt so that he didn’t have to come up with a lie. Tony sighed and for some reason Tim flinched as though he was waiting for a hit, “ Ziva what, McGee? She held a gun to your head? She threatened you with a paper clip, since she can kill someone twenty different ways with one. Did she threaten to cut off what balls you have if you manned up and admitted to what you did? Cause none of that was on the recording. Or did you forget that Abby also wired the car and your entire conversation was recorded.”

“But…”

“There is no “but” McGee, you were to be my back up. We were investigating a terrorist cell in that little idyllic neighborhood. You were supposed to have my six like I had yours when you shot that cop. Or did you forget?”

Tim lowered his head and shook it in a negative, no he hadn’t forgotten what happened that night.

“And now you’re sitting here in jail trying to find something or someone to blame for this when you only have yourself to blame because you refused to stand up to the probationary agent while you outranked her.” Tony stared at his old probie, he thought that they would have a bond that nothing would break. Like him and Gibbs but apparently that was just wishful thinking on his part apparently. But that was neither here nor there. All that he needed to worry about was his family. As the door closed behind him and he made his way towards Gibbs and Fornell he knew that this chapter was closed and done with. His and his daughter's future would be better, he would make sure of it.


End file.
